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Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) announced today that it currently has no plans for translocating additional gray wolves this release season. So what caused this? Did CPW finally rise up and say F*** You to the liberal wack-a-doodles who voted for this ballot-box-biology? No, they can’t legally do that (no matter how much they would probably like to). What’s really happening is they can’t find any more wolves!
As you probably know, the Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan calls for the release of 10-15 gray wolves on the West Slope per year, for a total of 3-5 years. So far, 10 wolves from Oregon were reintroduced in December 2023, another 15 from British Columbia in January 2025, and additional wolves are supposed to be released annually until the goal of 30-50 wolves is met. So CPW would normally release the next batch of demon-critters right about now, but they’ve run into a snag … a big one.
Our neighboring states (Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho) have refused to send wolves to Colorado. Colorado’s previous work-around for that was to get wolves from British Columbia; however, federal officials under the Endangered Species Act’s 10(j) are now saying future imports must come from the defined U.S. regions, so British Columbia is out … and CPW is left high-and-dry.
CPW Acting Director Laura Clellan said, “During this intermediate time, CPW will continue to meet with producers and other stakeholders, including U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to explore how to maximize the restoration effort and achieve our plan of establishing a self-sustaining gray wolf population in Colorado.”
If that sounds just like the kind of word-salad Kamala Harris would dish up, you’re right. What I think she means is, “We got no new wolves … but we’ll keep looking.” CPWs announcement similarly said they’re currently working through these issues in an effort to locate additional wolves for relocation. Good luck … not.
Another troubling sign for this wolf reintroduction fiasco is just yesterday CPW also announced the confirmed mortality of wolf #2504 in northwest Colorado. Here’s the link:
I can hear “Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen playing in the background…
That means nearly half of the wolves already released into Colorado are now dead, and CPW can’t find any new wolves. Is this program dying a death by 1,000 cuts … only if we’re lucky.
