Pair of wolves released in Colorado part of Oregon pack that killed livestock

A pair of wolves released this week in Colorado were part of the large Five Points pack in Oregon that killed three livestock animals. Oregon officials permitted ranchers to kill four wolves from the Five Points pack in July and August.

“Once a pack has started depredating, then they would probably continue to include livestock in their diet in the future,” said John Williams, the co-chair of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association Wolf Committee. “That does not mean they will always eat on livestock and it does not mean they will do it regularly. It means they know livestock is a viable and good source of food and when the situation arises, it would not surprise me to see them depredating.”

Colorado Parks and Wildlife on Dec. 18 released five wolves captured in Oregon in a remote corner of Grand County. The agency has more than a dozen wildlife experts in Oregon to capture five more wolves to release in either Eagle, Grand or Summit counties. It is unclear if the agency has released any more wolves since Dec. 18. 

Oregon’s Five Points pack was 12 wolves at the end of 2022 and federal wildlife officials killed four Five Points pack wolves in July and August 2023 — two adult females, one adult male and a yearling female — after chronic depredation of livestock. The history of the recently released wolves was first reported by The Fence Post. 

A pair of siblings — a male and female, both yearlings — from the Five Points pack were captured Dec. 17 in Oregon and released in Grand County the next day. 

In September, Colorado Parks and Wildlife wolf reintroduction manager Reid DeWalt told the Colorado House Agriculture Committee that the agency was asking other states for permission to capture and relocate wolves that “do not have a recent history of depredation.”

“You can see where folks would be like ‘You can have these bad wolves,’” DeWalt told the committee Sept. 12.

Committee chairman Sen. Dylan Roberts, a Democrat from Avon, asked DeWalt and Colorado Parks and Wildlife Director Jeff Davis if the agency would choose to not introduce wolves if the only available wolves came from depredating packs. 

DeWalt said introducing wolves from depredating packs “would not be good for those animals.”

“We would be setting ourselves up for failure if we did that,” DeWalt said. 

Davis told the committee that there were enough wolves in other states that did not have a history of killing livestock. The wildlife directors in other states “understand the consequences” of wolves that kill livestock, Davis said. 

“I can honestly say none of us would give each other problem wolves,” Davis said. “That would not set us up for success … and it feeds the story that wolves and ranchers cannot coexist.”

Ranchers in North Park are asking Colorado Parks and Wildlife to use lethal tactics to stop a pair of wolves that roamed down from Wyoming and are connected with killing or injuring 20 cows, lambs and working dogs since 2021. 

“I think everyone would be very disappointed if it was problem wolves that were introduced before the end of the year,” Sen. Jeff Bridges, a Democrat from Greenwood Village, said at the Sept. 12 committee hearing. “I really think that it would be in everyone’s best interest that the wolves that are introduced are not from problem packs.”

Michelle Dennehy, spokeswoman for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, said Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials were given up-to-date information on packs in northeastern Oregon including all information depredation and lethal  removal permits.

“It was CPW’s decision as to what packs to target but ODFW provided all this info up front,” she said. 

Officials with Colorado Parks and Wildlife did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday.

Oregon officials have killed at least 16 wolves connected to livestock depredation in 2023, compared with six wolves in 2022. Oregon counted 24 packs and 178 wolves at the beginning of the year. 

“We are in the thick of it right now and unfortunately that’s what you are signing up for,” said Williams with the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association. “Wolves need two things: They need an adequate ungulate base for their food and they need tolerant people. Unfortunately in your state, much like our state, the tolerant people are in the cities and it’s the ranchers and rural people who get the wolves.”