Wolves from British Columbia, Canada, were flown into Colorado, but officials aren’t saying where they’ll be released, stirring up renewed criticism that the state’s wolf reintroduction program is too secretive.
“People are more upset about them being so secretive about it than they are about the wolves being here,” Garfield County, Colorado, commissioner Perry Will told Cowboy State Daily on Monday.
“Some are even disgusted,” he added.
Similar To 2023 Wolf Releases
The secrecy was necessary for the safety of wolves and Colorado Parks and Wildlife personnel, CPW Northwest Region spokeswoman Rachael Gonzales told Cowboy State Daily.
“Due to the complexity of the operation, and to ensure the safety of our staff and the animals, CPW will not be sharing wolf release details while the operation is underway,” she said.
The operation began on Friday and is expected to last up to two weeks, according to CPW.
The agency plans to host a press conference giving more details about the location and number of wolves released. A date and time for the press conference hadn’t been set as of Monday.
That mirrors what happened in December 2023, after the first batch of wolves were released, initiating Colorado’s wolf reintroduction program.
Those wolves were brought in from Oregon and released at an undisclosed location in Grand County, Colorado. The release event was by invitation only, and officials were tight-lipped about details until a press conference after the fact.
A Tale Of Three Counties
The current plan is to release up to 15 wolves from British Columbia in one of three Colorado counties. Those include Garfield, Eagle and Pitkin counties – which are adjacent to each other in northwest Colorado.
Officials in those counties told Cowboy State Daily on Monday that they didn’t yet know where the wolves will be released.
For now, at least, Garfield County appears to be off the list, Will and county manager Fred Jarman said.
Jarman told Cowboy State Daily that he’d spoken with a CPW official late Sunday.
The official confirmed that “a batch” of wolves had been flown from British Columbia to the Eagle County airport, but didn’t say where they’d been taken from there, Jarman said.
Jarman and Will said they were told by CPW that at least this time around, wolves won’t be released in Garfield County.
“They won’t be released in Garfield County this time, but that doesn’t mean Garfield County is off the hook,” Will said.
CPW plans to release 10-15 wolves per year in Colorado’s West Slope region per year over 3 to 5 years, according to the state’s wolf management plan.
One County Voted For Wolves, Two Against
Colorado’s wolf reintroduction program was initiated by Proposition 114, which Colorado voters passed in 2020 by the slimmest of margins, 50.91% to 49.09%.
The majority of votes in Garfield County went against the reintroduction, Jarman said.
Eagle County also went against it, county commissioner Jeanne McQueeney told Cowboy State Daily.
She said she didn’t know if the wolves will be released there, only that CPW gave the county a “heads up a couple of days ago” that wolves were going to start being flown in.
“We’ve been told that there are places in Eagle County that are suitable for the releases, but we haven’t been told anything since,” she said.
Pitkin County tipped in favor of Proposition 114.
“Pitkin voted for the reintroduction in 2020. I think public sentiment is still in favor,” County Commission Chairman Greg Poschman told Cowboy State Daily.
“I haven’t been updated by CPW recently” regarding whether the wolves will be released in his county, he said.
Flight Tracker
The wolves from Oregon in 2023 were flown by LightHawk, a conservation aviation organization.
LightHawk planes were also moving the wolves from British Columbia, Colorado resident John Michael Williams told Cowboy State Daily.
According to a flight tracking app, one of those planes was headed back to British Columbia on Monday afternoon, perhaps to get more wolves, said Williams, who runs the popular Colorado Wolf Tracker social media website.
Messages left for a LightHawk spokesman weren’t returned.
There was also concern over whether the wolves being taken from Canada had been properly tested for disease, Colorado rancher Howard Cooper told Cowboy State Daily.
“Why won’t the governor’s office and CPW be more transparent and tell us what is going on?” said Cooper, who is a member of the Colorado Conservation Alliance.
If the wolf transport started on Friday and at least some of the wolves were in Colorado by Sunday, that might not have been enough time for them to be properly screened for disease, he said.
CPW stated the wolves had been tested and treated for disease.
“Wolves will be examined and provided treatment for possible diseases and infections at the source site,” according to a statement from the agency.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
