I’m constantly inundated with questions about the state of Colorado’s wolf repatriation project. This is an updated version of Colorado Wolves: Hyped Media Derails Neighborly Coexistence because since this essay was posted, a lot has happened in Colorado's wolf reintroduction project that has become globally newsworthy. Unfortunately, most of the media continues to be anti-wolf.
Many people recently learned that there is a highly controversial effort in progress by CPW to trap and relocate 5 members of the Copper Creek Pack but the public has no idea what is happening on the ground. A well-balanced article in the New York Times offers views from both wolf advocates and wolf haters.
Based on what we know as of this moment, here's a brief summary. I hoped Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) would update people about what’s going on but my and others’ requests for more detailed updates have been ignored.
I fully understand why some information might have to be kept confidential, but there are some basic questions that could be answered with no harm to the wolves or to CPW’s decision to trap and relocate Colorado’s first breeding family of wolves—mom, dad, and their three children—who are here because we brought the parents here. So why the secrecy?1 This is all being done after around only 8 months of these wolves being released.
Right now as far as many people are concerned, it’s a matter of wolves lose, ranchers win. Can their differences be reconciled? Is there any hope for a workable consensus in which wolves are not harmed or killed? Despite CPW's trap and relocate project, ranchers remain dissatisfied. For example, Tim Ritschard, president of the Middle Park Stockgrowers association, said the news about trapping and relocating the wolves is a step in the right direction but much more needs to be done—"They still have a long ways to go.".2
Needless to say, the wolves care........