Colorado Parks and Wildlife has killed a second yearling wolf in less than two months, this one from the One Ear Pack, after livestock losses in Grand and Jackson counties. It forces a question: Are we fostering the conditions for wolves and ranching communities to thrive together, or are we intervening after conflict has escalated?
The loss of livestock is serious, and ranchers should not carry the financial or emotional costs of wolf restoration alone. The producers involved used range riders and other nonlethal tools before this wolf was killed. But the tool matters less than how it is used. A range rider on the payroll is not the same as a well-run program. Simply deploying tools does not prevent conflict.
For 14 years I have worked with ranchers, range riders and wolves in the West, demonstrating that this work need not frame ranchers as opponents of wolves or wolves as problems to eliminate. Successful prevention requires sustained presence, site-specific planning, livestock management, rapid communication and flexibility as conditions change. Range riding cannot be a box to check after wolves arrive. It must be adequately funded, professionally led and integrated into ranch operations.
This young wolf was born in Colorado. His death is a warning that reintroduction alone is not recovery.
Colorado can lead the nation in wolf-livestock conflict prevention, moving beyond reactive cycles of loss, blame and lethal removal, and investing in long-term solutions before the next calf, or the next wolf, is killed. There is a better way.
Daniel Curry
Colville, Wash.
