Colorado’s wolf introduction efforts continue to raise concerns within the ag industry with reports of significant impacts on ranchers in the western part of the state.
The Colorado Cattleman’s Association is addressing concerns over state agency planning.
According to Tom Harrington, “They did look ahead and make sure that they were prepared for the problems that were going to ensue. How they were going to deal with compensation claims, the non-lethal deterrence, and what those costs were, not only to purchase them and get them out there but installed and maintained. The Range Rider Program was kind of an afterthought, that does seem to work in some situations. The extensive range in Colorado is just not very conducive to the non-lethals and they’ve proven that the non-lethal deterrents all seem to work for a time, but very, short time. The wolves figure out that they can work around it.”
The result of a vote at the recent Colorado Counties Incorporated meeting left no question on how county commissioners feel about the next wolf release.
“Sixty-three of 64 counties voted to pause the next reintroduction. The only county that didn’t was Denver County,” Harrington added. “He should have taken that as a pretty good strong vote that maybe they need to slow down on this.”
Harrington is also pushing back on claims from Governor Jared Polis, who has been criticized for comments he made regarding the budgeting issues surrounding the introduction.
