On Monday, December 18, 2023, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) achieved a milestone success with the release of five gray wolves in Grand County, officially fulfilling its obligation to Colorado voters who mandated that reintroduction of this endangered species begin by December 31, 2023. As of today, there are now 10 gray wolves on the ground. A summary of the week’s activities can be found here and an excellent video can be seen here. The reintroduction of 10 wolves into rural Colorado offers many lessons in the nature of human-nonhuman animal (animal) relationships (anthrozoology).
I was present for the release of the first five wolves, despite my having publicly aired concerns that were based on behavioral, ecological, and ethical perspectives. Questions that have circulated in my mind for many years include: Why are we doing this in the first place? Why are we moving individuals living in other states to unfamiliar areas in Colorado where they would surely get an unwelcome reception? What about their emotional lives and the stress of being trapped, moved, and released? What about the well-being of prey animals who would otherwise have not been exposed to yet another predator? Why don’t we just leave them be?1,2
Wolves are sentient animals, which simply means they have feelings. They care about their own well-being and that of their families and friends and so too should we.
Dr. Joanna Lambert, who works with the Yellowstone wolves, was also there and quoted as saying, “ …she lost her breath when she saw the wolves gallop into the woods.” I did too. In fact, I later realized that I had been holding my breath from the time the door of the first wolf’s transport crate was open until they ran off and hightailed it over a steep slope. I’ve seen many wild wolves, but those people who hadn't were shocked by how beautiful, emotional, fast, and agile wolves are.
What especially interested me was that the wolves clearly had individual personalities and I wonder if and how these differences will factor into how well they do in their new homes. Part of my research on wild coyotes focused on this question, specifically how well coyotes displaying different personalities functioned in their pack and when they went off on their own, and any information that can be used to give each and every individual wolf the best life possible must be used on their behalf.
It should be noted that the guidelines for the project were based on solid science. For example, removing high-ranking leaders can lead to the decimation of a wolf pack, so yearlings were among the individuals who made the first trip to Colorado. Youngsters may not be efficient predators on their own but can surely acquire the skills that are necessary to get their meals.
Wanting wolves back in their historical homes is biologically and ecologically sound, as it’s well known that they help to improve various habitats and restore them to what they once were.
Regardless of how meticulously CPW attended to the will of the voters and the communities that would be most directly impacted by the reintroduction, it was inevitable that there would be criticism of the process and accusations by those who simply do not want wolves to return to Colorado. This rhetoric of disapprobation has ranged from semi-reasonable to uninformed, alarmist, and dangerous. It’s little wonder why people who supported the return of wolves to Colorado are concerned when those who opposed it are now making targets not only of the wolves themselves, but of the professionals who have carried out their duty to the voters of Colorado.
Tuesday, December 19th, the day following the initial release, media coverage remained relatively plain—just the facts minus the opinions. But by Wednesday, the need to express outrage had far outpaced everything else.
To justify that outrage, a headline emerged suggesting that two of the five wolves flown from Oregon to Colorado had a checkered past; they were cow-killers.3 My first response was, “So what? They’re young wolves and they might still need to learn to become efficient hunters.”
Numerous people found the author’s article to be misinformed. The author's argument appeared to be that a "problem" pack will always produce "problem" wolves. Research shows this isn’t a tenable claim.
I want to emphasize that I fully understand why there are highly volatile and divisive views about the presence of wolves in Colorado and other locales. Wolves have to kill other animals to survive. We can wish all we want that these sorts of predator-prey relationships never evolved, but they have. That said, good husbandry and the use of aversive non-lethal stimuli rather than killing wolves can deter them. Killing wild predators often doesn’t work because others of their or other resident species fill in the holes where the slain once lived. And, if killing-off predators or other animals worked, why do human-wildlife conflicts still arise every single year?4
It’s also imperative for those with differing opinions to work with one another rather than to fight with one another. I’m not saying this work is easy, but it’s essential that we all talk with one another, try to make decisions that will please the most people, and also agree to disagree and work to make coexistence palatable to a diverse populace.
Bullying, twisting facts, threatening, and harming people with whom we disagree is not the way to move forward, and I hope that as time goes on, and more and more wolves come to feel at home here in Colorado, people will accept them and, I hope, even welcome them home. It’s been a long time coming.
I find myself constantly thinking about the 10 wolves and hope they’re doing well, having been forced to leave their families and friends behind and trying to thrive in new and challenging environs. I remain concerned about the well-being of each and every individual because the life of each and every individual matters, and I hope my worst fears are never realized.
Wolves have a right to live here and we need to learn to coexist with them and with one another.
References
Marlon Reis, First Gentleman of Colorado, offered excellent suggestions for this piece. I’ve spoken with many people in many different countries over the years about some of the issues centering on reintroduction/repatriation projects and while I can’t name—or frankly remember—all of them, my on-going discussions with Camilla Fox and Brooks Fahy made an indelible mark in my head and in my heart.
The Hidden Slippery Slopes of Animal Reintroduction Programs; Wolf Packs Suffer When Humans Kill Their Leaders; Dogs Demystified: An A-to-Z Guide to All Things Canine; Social Ecology and Behavior of Coyotes; Ignoring Nature No More: The Case for Compassionate Conservation.
For more details about the behavior of wolves see wolf expert Rick McIntyre's excellent books discussed in these interviews: The Power and Legacy of Yellowstone's Alpha Female Wolf 06; The Story of Yellowstone Wolf 8: From Underdog to Alpha Male, The Reign of Wolf 21, Yellowstone's Benevolent Alpha Male, and The Redemption of Yellowstone's Renegade Alpha Wolf 302.
1) What I observed at the release site was impeccably professional. Under the leadership of Jeff Davis, the Director of Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), the team at the release site that day clearly had the wolves’ best interests at heart. Working in tandem with Colorado’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR)—whose Executive Director, Dan Gibbs, also was present—the project went as smoothly as I could have ever imagined. Yes, my concerns surfaced and still remain, but I was thoroughly pleased with what I observed was done out of a sense of deep care and concern for the wolves’ well-being. Of course, the wolves were highly stressed and needed all the TLC they could get before being released into unknown lands.
2) Some people have asked me why I wanted to be there, and I told them that the project was going to be conducted whether I was there or not, because the people of Colorado voted for it, and when ranchers sued at the eleventh hour to try and stop the release, a Federal judge ruled it would proceed. So I decided I might as well accept what would happen and try to make it the best it could be by being there for the wolves. I know a lot about wolf behavior and that of other wild canids. My students and I studied coyotes living in the Grand Teton National Park for 8 ½ years, and also what makes domesticated dogs thrive. So what I observed might be helpful in future reintroductions—actually repatriations—that is, projects here in Colorado and elsewhere. The word “repatriation” simply means that wolves used to live in Colorado and disappeared because humans killed them off.
3) In evidence of this, the author noted, “Two wolves released on Dec. 19, 2023, in Grand County, Colorado, 2302-OR, a juvenile female, black color, 68 pounds, and 2303-OR, a juvenile male, gray color, 76 pounds, come from the Five Points Pack. According to Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Livestock Depredation Investigations, Five Points Pack wolves injured one calf and killed another in separate depredations in July of 2023; killed a cow on Dec. 5, 2022; and injured a 900-pound yearling heifer on July 17, 2022."
4) Some people fear that wolves attack and kill humans willy-nilly and they need to know that fatal wolf attacks are extremely rare and that from 2011-2021, the average number of humans killed by dogs was 43. Of course, these are tragic events, but a number of people who know wolves and dogs have told me they’d rather face a p*ssed-off wolf than a mad dog. Personally, I’d rather not meet either of these animals.
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