GRAND COUNTY, Colo. — Three of the five wolves released by Colorado Parks and Wildlife in Grand County this week came from packs that have killed livestock in Oregon this year, according to Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife records.
The wolves were the first to be released under a voter-approved reintroduction program that was embraced by the state's urban corridor but staunchly opposed in rural areas where ranchers worry about attacks on livestock.
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In an interview Nov. 28, CPW told 9NEWS they would not take wolves from problem packs.
“That’s part of the consideration too, that we’re working with the state, with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, to identify the packs that are known depredators, where there’s really a chronic issue going on," CPW Species Conservation Program Manager Eric Odell said. "We won’t take animals from those packs either, because we want to take animals that are trained on wild ungulates. That’s our hope that their primary prey is, so we’ll use the knowledge Oregon has collected over their years of monitoring of the tendencies of those packs.”
The wolves were all caught in Oregon on Sunday. They came from three different packs.
“CPW was given up to date information on packs in NE Oregon including all information on depredations and lethal removal permits. (This information is also all available online.) It was CPW’s decision as to what packs to target for capture," an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesperson told 9NEWS.
Two of the wolves came from a pack that killed one calf and injured two others in July, according to the records. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife authorized the killing of four wolves from that pack in August "in response to chronic depredation of livestock."
One of the wolves came from a pack that killed a calf in September and a cow in October, according to the Oregon records.
Friday evening CPW responded to our request for clarity:
"Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) strictly followed the Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan in the selection of the gray wolves reintroduced from multiple packs in Oregon. This plan was informed by Technical Working Group (TWG) experts and a Stakeholder Advisory Group (SAG) and unanimously adopted by the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission.
It’s important to note that any wolves that have been near livestock will have some history of depredation, and this includes all packs in Oregon. This does not mean they have a history of chronic depredation (see Plan, page 27). If a pack has had infrequent depredation events, they should not be excluded as a source population per the plan.
There were two depredation events by members of the Five Points pack in July 2023. The state of Oregon has a Wolf Management Plan that details how to respond to livestock depredation and per the Plan, ODFW provided the producer with a lethal removal permit after they requested it. The producer’s agent lethally removed four wolves from the pack in early August. The pack has not depredated since.
CPW took multiple factors into account when deciding to bring in animals from the Five Points Pack as that particular pack has some history of depredations on livestock. Factors such as size of pack, previous removals from the pack, pack behavior after removals, and age of captured wolves were all considered. After removing the four animals this summer, the Five Points pack has not been involved in any depredations since. The change in pack behavior and the lack of current depredations met CPW criteria for accepting the animals.
CPW teams in Oregon passed on several larger and easier-to-access packs because they had recent depredation or had a chronic or ongoing depredation history."
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