Trapping and hunting a wolf is very difficult and is as effective as the effort put in to do so. They are very smart and have such a big territory you only have a shot per year at it, and once you get one the rest of the pack is almost impossible to get.
Wolf programs are managed by US Fish and Wildlife Service, not state government.
Sorry not in this case. This was state all the way. They had to release them on state land etc. The reintroduction of wolves to a national park is federal. This was state, on the state ballot, state tax money.
They were released on National Forest lands in Arizona and New Mexico 20 plus years ago by USFWS. There has been a few calf killer wolves and these habitual livestock killers were shot. For the most part, they are subsisting on elk and deer. And there are still too many elk. Early on, there was a lot of public outcry about threats to humans, but so far that hasn’t been the case and there isn’t much news about them anymore. I didn’t think it was a good idea in the 1990s when they were re-introduced to the area, but I’m now indifferent because the wolves seem to be elusive and avoid confrontation and areas of heavy human activity. The agreement when they were released was that habitual calf killers would be shot, and this has been the case. There was one instance about a decade ago of a wolf kill of two dogs in Arizona. I work in the woods often and in all these years, I have sighted 2 wolves on one occasion. They took off running when I stopped the truck and got out to look at them. Regardless of what Colorado does, they will have wolves in the future because they are in northern New Mexico now. I’m not a wolf fan boy, just don’t think about them much because their presence in our area has been rather uneventful.
Ranching is being legislated out of existence from several different angles.
In AZ and NM ranchers lose more calves to lions and bears than wolves, but they are definitely another factor. Still ranchers here are more concerned with elk depredation on their hay meadows than other wildlife issues. Our Game and Fish Departments are always issuing depredation elk hunting permits.
Let me get this straight, in Colorado you have to leave a colt a stud? and not allowed to artificial inseminate cows?
No. Some fools just talked about that. No laws or requirements.
Almost made the ballot in 2022, it was unbelievable when the same Supreme Court that is trying to disrupt a popular vote in the country, barred it from the ballot in the last minute.
From the statue:
