GRAND COUNTY, Colo. — Sixty percent of the cattle killed by wolves in Colorado so far this year belonged to one family. That family has a new fear after their mom is certain she saw a wolf about 30 yards from a house.
Nellie Farrell went to check on sheep last Wednesday at their Grand County ranch's headquarters. When she pulled up, she said, she saw a wolf eyeing the sheep and started recording.
Normally, her kids would have been out with the sheep.
“I was terrified. I was shaking. I didn’t know what to do. We live in the middle of nowhere. I can’t scream and holler for help. There’s no neighbors," she said.
She did what she could to get the wolf to go away.
“I didn’t know what to do. It didn’t care. It wasn’t afraid of me. It wasn’t scared. So I just threw my arms up and started hollering and it kind of ran away," Farrell said.
She has no doubt what she saw was a wolf.
“100%. It wasn’t one of our neighbors' dogs. I see coyotes every day, and it wasn’t a coyote," she said.
So far this year, Colorado Parks and Wildlife has confirmed, wolves have killed 10 cattle in the state. The Farrells said they owned six of them.
"This is a very hard time for us," she said.
This latest experience has added to their concerns about wolves.
“I’m constantly on edge. I’m constantly worried. I’m constantly scared," Farrell said.
She said their way of life has been impacted, because she's scared to let her kids run around outside.
Since 1900 in the lower 48 states, researchers have not recorded a wolf killing a human.
"The data tell us that the actual risk of wolves attacking or killing people is very low," said Dr. Kevin Crooks, the Director of Colorado State University's Center for Human-Carnivore Coexistence.
A Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesperson said "anyone who sees a wolf should haze that wolf so it feels uncomfortable being in the area and leaves."
"Although there are wolves on the landscape, those living and recreating in areas with known wolf activity still have a greater chance of having a conflict with a moose, elk, or bear than they will with a wolf," the spokesperson said.
“There’s no comfort in people throwing out statistics that wolves don’t attack humans, because it’s still a predator and it has attacked our cattle and it has attacked yearlings that are 600-ish pounds," Farrell said. "My children are 3 and 5 years old. They look like prey. It doesn’t make me feel any better.”
She said she understands Colorado having wolves is the reality now, but she said she shouldn't have to live in fear.
“This year has been the most stressful year of my life. It’s put stress on everything. It’s a family business. So it puts stress on the people I love, it puts -- my kids are scared. My daughter told me that she had a nightmare about the 'woofs,' and that’s terrible. I don’t want that for my kids. I want them to feel safe. We all do," Farrell said.
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