Ranchers in Grand, Jackson and Larimer counties, the Grand County sheriff and the Colorado Wool Growers Association have sent six letters in the past week asking Gov. Jared Polis and Colorado Parks and Wildlife to kill four wolves blamed for the deaths of six cows in Grand and Jackson counties in the past 16 days.
In a letter addressed to Polis and CPW on Monday, the Middle Park Stockgrowers Association reiterated a request it sent April 18 for the immediate removal of two wolves from known depredating packs in Oregon that have been killing cattle in Grand County. A letter sent Monday from the North Park Stockgrowers Association said it “proudly stands united” with Middle Park and requested additionally that CPW kill two wolves that have been “plaguing Jackson County” with 20 confirmed animal deaths since they entered Colorado in 2022 and killed one calf and injured another in the same 16-day period this month.
Grand County Sheriff Brett Schroetlin in his letter cited five confirmed deaths in Grand County, adding “this number of depredations is believed to be higher as our community continues to learn about wolf practices and patterns here firsthand in our county.”
The Larimer County Stockgrowers Association, which added its letter to the mix Monday afternoon, wrote to Polis and CPW “in solidarity with (its) brothers and sisters in animal husbandry from the Middle and North Park Communities.”
“The tenuous nature of these now chronic depredation events requires a greater level of communication, transparency and commitment to the stewards of agriculture who keep our great state fed,” the letter said.
The Middle Park letter focuses on rules around chronic depredation in Washington state, because Colorado does not have its own rules — a fact that rankled stockgrowers for years before the Oregon wolves were brought here in late 2023.
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife rules state that three confirmed kills in 30 days or four depredations in a 10-month “rolling window” justify lethal removal.
But CPW has yet to release its rules around chronic depredation, with Jeff Davis, the CPW director, telling lawmakers in January the agency’s “goal is to review all states that have wolves and what they put into their chronic depredation definition and figure out criteria.” Davis joined CPW in March 2023 after 23 years at Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Travis Duncan, a CPW spokesperson, on Monday said the agency’s staff is “working on a definition of ‘chronic depredation.’ It will be going through our regulatory process and will most likely be scheduled to be heard by our commission at its June or July meeting.”
Grand County Commissioner Meritt Linke said Monday afternoon he didn’t understand why Polis or the commission, which includes Colorado Department of Agriculture commissioner Kate Greenberg, had not responded to the letter the stockgrowers sent at 8 a.m. that morning.
“I mean, they have our numbers. They could at least text us,” he said.
The lack of specifics around what counts as chronic depredation “is something that should have been figured out prior to the wolves’ release,” he added. It must be figured out before more wolves are brought to Colorado “and depredation becomes a huge runaway-train problem.”
Linke said ranchers are using all of the nonlethal wolf deterrent measures CPW and the Colorado Department of Agriculture have recommended, but “they have a shelf life. They’re only effective for a short time. We know this from talking to surrounding states from firsthand evidence. Why didn’t Colorado learn from this?”
He added although ranchers are compensated at fair market value for cattle killed by wolves, the money often doesn’t come close to compensating a rancher for all of the expenses of raising cattle. A rancher might give a calf to a neighbor’s cow if the cow loses its calf, for instance, while a yearling can go for $3,000, he said.
“The hidden costs of raising cattle are not just cut and dried,” he added. “When cows are stressed, they might not have as good a conception rate, or they might not have as good a weight gain through the summer. If you have 400 or 500 cows and they gain 25 fewer pounds, there’s some pretty good loss right there. And extra time and labor — some of these ranchers who’ve had wolves around are literally sleeping in their pastures. Yes, the state has been trying to get us a range rider program, but how’s that going to work in a place like Grand County, which is 1,869 square miles?”
Schroetlin said in his letter to CPW and Polis it is his duty to “prioritize public safety and to address a safety lapse when I feel we are falling short.” He said “an immediate decision” around lethally removing the two introduced wolves that have been killing livestock in his county is needed, and that without immediate action “you are ultimately failing the great citizens of this county,” and “setting a poor precedent for future encounters.”
A representative for Greenberg said she did not respond to the letters because “as a member of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission, she is not in a position to respond on behalf of the entire board.”
In the Colorado Wool Growers Association letter sent late Monday afternoon, the organization said, “Allowing chronic depredators to persist on the landscape is literally throwing our livestock to the wolves, and will only perpetuate the problem as existing and new pack members learn to prey on livestock and our working dogs.”
Duncan said CPW will share its response letter “after sending it to Middle Park Stockgrowers Association directly.”