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Colorado Parks and Wildlife works to capture 10 to 15 wolves to bring to Colorado

Wildlife officials work to capture 10 to 15 wolves to bring to Colorado
Wildlife officials work to capture 10 to 15 wolves to bring to Colorado 03:22

Colorado Parks and Wildlife has started capturing gray wolves in Canada as the second group of wolves in Colorado's reintroduction program is set to be introduced back in the state this month.

The operation comes just days after the CPW Commission voted to continue the work despite a petition from ranchers to pause the program. The first full year of wolf reintroduction was controversial as three wolves died while nine others were still on the western slope. Right now CPW is looking to bring 10 to 15 wolves to Colorado's western slope.

CPW says this comes along with their work reducing conflict between wolves and livestock as well as a range rider program. But two years into reintroduction, while many conservationists are excited some ranchers are still frustrated.

"We're not excited about it, just because, you know, in being a rancher or being in livestock industry that that hurts our bottom line," Julie Hughes with JW Mini Moos Ranch said.

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Julie Hughes   CBS

Coloradans voted for the wolf reintroduction measure back in 2020 and on Saturday the department started new efforts to bring more wolves back.

But Hughes says she's frustrated because more wolves could potentially put some livestock at risk adding, "I think it just really puts another roadblock and a really another heartbreak on the rancher."

In the second year of the program, more than two dozen animals have been hurt or killed by wolves across three counties.

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Colorado Parks and Wildlife

But conservationists like Rob Edward, who is the president of the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project say it's a small price to pay for a healthier ecosystem.

"You'd think the sky was falling, but the fact is, it's not. The fact is, wolves are being wolves. Most of the wolves that were reintroduced haven't gotten into problems with livestock," Edward said.

Edward explained that wolves can help with plant regrowth and bring a predator to the large deer and elk population, along with other benefits.

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Rob Edward CBS

"Having wolves back on the landscape again," Edward said, "ultimately can help to do things like bring back songbird populations in streamside areas, help make streams healthier and deeper, and better for fish habitat."

Not all ranchers oppose the program's progress, but some, like Eric Wellman with Wellman Ranch, still want to see more added protections before more wolves return.

"CPW has done a great job of letting us know when wolves have been in our area, so that allows us to be on guard a little bit more," Wellman said, "It's still the additional stress of, okay, when we're lambing. How do we care for these newborn lambs that are 12 pounds?"

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Eric Wellman CBS

CPW says they're working to limit any conflict and only capturing wolves from areas that do not have livestock before bringing them back to their native roots in Colorado.

"The fact that our forebears in the early 1900s and late 1800s spent so much effort to wipe wolves out was an ecological disaster in the making, and we have an opportunity to right that wrong," Edward said.

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