By Dennis Webb
Colorado Parks and Wildlife said Monday that the natural expansion of gray wolves to the state is likely, enough so that people should take care not to accidentally kill one.
In a news release, the agency pointed to numerous confirmed and possible appearances of the animal in the state in recent years.
“Although it remains rare, a credible sighting now and then cannot be considered highly unusual anymore,” CPW director Bob Broscheid said in the news release. “I believe it is only a matter of time before they begin to move here in larger numbers and we must prepare for that eventuality.”
The agency noted that wolves are protected by the federal Endangered Species Act in Colorado, and it issued its advisory to in an effort to help prevent illegal killings of the species. Such killings can result in criminal charges, up to a year in prison and a fine up to $100,000.
In April 2015, a small-game hunter near Kremmling mistakenly killed a wolf that he thought was a coyote. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which has jurisdiction over wolves in the state because of their federally protected status, chose not to charge him because he had been hunting legally, didn’t intentionally kill the wolf and reported the killing to CPW immediately.
CPW said other wolf incidents over the years include one struck and killed on Interstate 70 near Idaho Springs in 2004, video taken by CPW employees of an animal with wolf-like characteristics north of Walden in 2007, the discovery of a radio-collared wolf dead north of Rifle in 2009, and trailcam photos in April 2015 of an animal that appeared to be a wolf.
There have been other reports of possible wolf sightings, scat and tracks, and possibly even howls.
CPW said that while there’s no evidence that wolves exist at the population level in the state, that’s likely to change in the near future.
“Wolves are known to travel long distances and we expect that they will continue to come into the state on their own,” Broscheid said. “We have a duty to let the public know about this possibility to help prevent someone from accidentally killing a wolf.”
Gary Wockner, who was part of a 2004 wolf working group in Colorado, reiterated Monday his view that wolves won’t permanently return to the state without the help of an active reintroduction program.
“I think that Colorado Parks and Wildlife is playing politics, not science,” he said of its suggestion that wolves will return on their own accord.
Wockner objected when the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission this year echoed its past position opposing efforts to reintroduce wolves, while not opposing the animals’ presence should they arrive on their own.
The possibility of wolves returning concerns many ranchers worried about protecting livestock, judging by the level of opposition a Sierra Club advocate for wolf reintroduction encountered when she spoke on the issue in Carbondale earlier this year.
CPW encourages people to report wolf sightings at cpw.state.co.us/learn/Pages/Wolf-Sighting-Form.aspx, but says photos and videos of wolves and any wildlife should be taken from a distance.