Ranchers howl over comeback of gray wolves
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CRAIG, Colo. – Some ranchers in northwestern Colorado say the area
isn’t ready for gray wolves, and they are prepared to take matters into
their own hands if the lanky predators ever show up.
“I’m gonna have to buy a backhoe because if I shoot one in the
winter,
I can’t dig fast enough by hand,” Moffat County Commissioner Les Hampton
said at a meeting this week.
The county Land Use Board spent nearly three hours Tuesday reviewing
evidence and discussing wolves, which were reintroduced in the Northern
Rockies in 1995 and have since made a strong comeback.
“These wolves are coming, whether we like it or not,” said T. Wright
Dickinson, an agriculture representative.
According to research by board official Rick Hammel, wolves have
preyed on livestock in northeastern Utah and Farson, Wyo. One apparent
sighting was as close as Baggs, Wyo., 30 miles north of Craig.
The wolves have done so well that federal wildlife officials say
they
are ready to take steps to remove the predator from the endangered species
list. For now, the animals are known to be roaming in parts of Wyoming,
Idaho and Montana.
It is just a matter of time before wolves come to Colorado, said
Nick
Kamzalow, owner of Outdoor Connections.
“They’ll be killing livestock and they’ll be killing game,” Kamzalow
said. “Coyotes and cats have had an impact on the deer and elk herds and
this will just add to it.”
The board urged county commissioners to stress the need for a state
wolf management plan.
The Colorado Division of Wildlife has no such plan. Gray wolves are
a
threatened species in Colorado north of Interstate 70. South of the
highway, the wolves are officially endangered.
Division spokesman Todd Malmsbury said no wild wolves are confirmed
to
be living in Colorado and that the Colorado Wildlife Commission officially
opposes reintroduction of the gray wolf.
He also said the division has drafted directives to guide personnel
in
the event of a wolf sighting.
Wyoming, Idaho and Montana are working to demonstrate to the U.S.
Fish
and Wildlife Service that they can successfully manage wolves, which would
be the first step to take the animal off the endangered list.
“I’d be real surprised if you see many wolves over the next five to
10
years because most of our wolves will be up in northwest Wyoming and
that’s quite a way for wolves to travel through country where they’re
going to be considered predators,” said Reg Rothwell, supervisor of
biological services for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
“That is going to be a real impediment for those wolves to get as
far
as Colorado,” he said. He said reports of wolves near Colorado are likely
lonely, adventurous animals.
Dickinson, a former Moffat County commissioner, said wolves are more
of a problem than endangered species such as the bald eagle or the
black-footed ferret.
“It’s harder to strike a balance with wolves,” Dickinson said.
“Wolves
just don’t fit here.”