A trio of livestock producers in Grand County, Colorado delivered a hefty invoice to Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) for missing, underweight, and dead livestock recently, saying wolves were to blame for blows to their bottom line. The ranchers set the price tag at $582,000, The Colorado Sun reports—a sum that would empty CPW’s Wolf Depredation Compensation Fund and pull from the state’s general fund to cover the balance.
Middle Park Stockgrowers Association (MPSA) president Tim Ritschard sent the claims and a letter to CPW on Dec. 31. The association filed a petition with the CPW Commission in September requesting a pause in new wolf releases ahead of its second release of 10 to 15 wolves from British Columbia, slated for sometime in the next month.
The ranchers say the state agency needs to provide an official definition of “chronic depredation” for use in the context of killing problem wolves—and that CPW needs a range-riding program and a rapid response team in place before the rural landscape can support any more transplanted wolves. CPW met on Jan. 8 and voted 10-1 to deny the petition.
Each of the three Grand County ranches listed in MPSA's complaint have suffered from at least one confirmed livestock depredation. Last summer, CPW denied the ranchers' requests to lethally remove wolves that repeatedly preyed on cattle and sheep in the county. Then, in an unexpected about-face, the agency opted to remove and relocate a pack of newly-introduced wolves from the Middle Park area of Grand County.
In addition to $18,411.71 charged for confirmed livestock deaths caused by wolf depredation, the MPSA ranchers charged $216,772.20 for livestock “taken to market with a lower-than-normal weight,” $173,526.63 for livestock reported missing, $172,754.64 for lower sheep and cattle conception rates than normal, and $515 for a necropsy of a dead calf. None of the depredation charges have been paid as of this writing.
Related: Colorado Parks & Wildlife Names Three Counties Where It Could Release Wolves This Winter
All depredation claims over $20,000 must [first] be approved by the CPW commission, Travis Duncan, CPW public information officer, points out. The agency has 30 days to review a depredation claim, and every claim must be investigated. CPW defines wolf “depredation” as “physical trauma resulting in injury or death,” according to their Confirmed Gray Wolf Depredation Information database.
