Embattled Wolves Gain a New Frontier in Democrat Colorado. The Move is Stoking Political Tensions

“The increasingly-authoritarian green movement routinely mandates environmental and wildlife practices, implemented  in ways that ignore people and their livelihoods. Colorado wolf reintroductions are no exception.

NOTE: this article was originally published to APNews.com on December 11, 2023. It was written by Matthew Brown and Jesse Bedayn.

DENVER, Colo. (AP) — Wildlife officials plan to release gray wolves in Colorado in coming weeks, at the behest of urban voters and to the dismay of rural residents who don’t want the predators but have waning influence in the Democratic-led state.

The most ambitious wolf reintroduction effort in the U.S. in almost three decades marks a sharp departure from aggressive efforts by Republican-led states to cull wolf packs. More releases planned for Colorado over the next several years will start to fill in one of the last remaining major gaps in the western U.S. for a species that historically ranged from northern Canada to the desert southwest.

The reintroduction, starting with the release of up to 10 wolves, emerged as a political wedge issue when GOP-dominated Wyoming, Idaho and Montana refused to sharetheir wolves for the effort. Colorado officials ultimately turned to another Democratic state — Oregon — to secure wolves.

As anticipation grows among wildlife advocates, who’ve already started a wolf-naming contest, ranchers in the Rocky Mountains where the releases will occur are anxious. They’ve already seen glimpses of what the future could hold as a handful of wolves that wandered down from Wyoming over the past two years killed livestock.

—

For more posts like this, in your inbox weekly – sign up for the Restoring Diversity Newsletter