By GARY HARMON
Allowing gray wolves to prowl Colorado’s high country would imperil the small moose population atop Grand Mesa and threaten other game species, the Mesa County Commission said.
The commission urged the federal government in a resolution to follow the recommendations of the Colorado Wildlife Commission, which opposed reintroduction of the gray wolf to Colorado.
“These animals are killers,” Commissioner Scott McInnis said. “They have no place in this state,” which now counts on livestock to drive its economy.
Moose, however, are prime prey for wolves and the 400 or so moose on Grand Mesa could be imperiled by wolves not even two decades after the moose were reintroduced on the mesa, McInnis said.
Mesa County’s resolution is intended to counter organizations such as the Sierra Club, which is seeking reintroduction of the keystone predator to the Centennial State.
“Colorado needs wolves,” the Colorado chapter of the Sierra Club says on its website. “Wolves need Colorado. Wolves are an essential component of ecosystem restoration. In fact, Colorado has some of the best remaining habitat for wolves in the Lower 48.”
Wolves, however, also are significant disease vectors, including of hydatid disease, a tapeworm that can be communicated to other animals, including humans, Grand Junction veterinarian Gary Rechten said.
Infestations such as hydatid disease require a “susceptible population, and we are the susceptible population,” Rechten said.
Once allowed into a region, wolves “are hard to control because they’re so intelligent,” Rechten said.
The Iowa Legislature declared that wolves are a “clear and present danger” to the livestock and human population there, Denny Behrens of the Colorado chapter of Big Game Forever said.
By adopting the resolution opposing reintroduction, the county places itself in a better position to deal with the federal government should reintroduction efforts move forward, Behrens said.