As a dog lover, I have a fondness of all canines but I'm not naive to believe that farmers and ranchers should feel the same.
Posted on 12/05/2023 1:08:43 PM PST by NohSpinZone
In late 2020, Colorado voters did something relatively unprecedented in the nation’s history by voting to reintroduce wolves to the state. That process, several years in the works now, will involve transplanting wolves from Oregon — and even though the measure was given the goahead three years ago, some opponents of the measure remain skeptical. That in and of itself isn’t too surprising; you’d think that if people changed their mind on how they’d voted, it would likely happen after wolves returned to Colorado, and that hasn’t happened yet.
A recent article at NPR by Kurt Siegler offers a good overview of the issues at stake here — and a reminder of why there was support for the measure to bring back wolves in the state in the first place.
To start with, Colorado has a lot of elk. Nearly twice as much as Montana, Siegler writes. That elk population also played a role in determining which wolves would be imported into the state, as Oregon’s wolves also have a penchant for snacking on elk.
Some advocates for the wolves have argued that, while the state’s population is growing, there’s plenty of room for everyone. “Along the highways we have a lot of development, but if you get in an airplane and you fly over out here, there’s a lot of untouched wilderness,” Pitkin County Commission chair Francie Jacober told NPR.
Part of the debate around wolves also has to do with their elusiveness. “One rancher referred to wolves as really ghostly in their presence,” Wolfish author Erica Berry told InsideHook earlier this year. “That feels like that’s increased the sort of mystery around them, just by the nature of their biology.” We’re about to see that mystery get a bit more clarified in one western state.
(Excerpt) Read more at insidehook.com ...
As a dog lover, I have a fondness of all canines but I'm not naive to believe that farmers and ranchers should feel the same.
Democracy:
Two wolves and a rancher’s sheep deciding on dinner.
I have no idea where they got the wolves from.
I wonder how long their little darling dog/wolf hybrid went before completely without warning swallowing their baby daughter?
I would be more concerned about all the illegals they stupidly voted in
Reintroduce them to the metro areas where the people voted for them. Not to the farming areas where they don’t want them.
Yes, wolves like elk.
Cows are slower.....................
Maybe the wolves will like them.
/s
They tried re-introducing red wolves in the Smokies back in the 90’s. Turns out, the wolves preferred the herds of cattle over wild game. The program was dropped as the wolves did not reproduce well and the local cows were saved.
They just want to cuddle.😳
Our recent forefathers went to a lot of trouble to get rid of them, for serious reasons.
It would be much easier and cheaper to install a few remote loudspeakers, to give out wolf howls at appropriate times, so that visitors could get a thrill from "hearing wolves". /S
Seriously, what is the benefit of bringing in wolves? They do not benefit the ecosystem.
They do not benefit prey animals.
Their only "benefit" is psychological, mostly to urban dwellers who do not have to live with them.
I purchased a lot of high fencing and treated 4x4’s from a guy that tore down the large area he had fenced in for a pet wolf. It was about two acres.
After burying chicken wire to stop him from digging under the fence and countless recaptures, he told me it pushed him too far and he used his 30-06 to get him back.
He no longer needed the fence.
Denver women and college kids know best. Silly ranchers and hunters.
I suspect the reason the wolves "did not reproduce well" was that the farmers used the "Triple-S" method (Shoot/Shovel/Shut up).
I once knew a Montana rancher who could spot a male wolf 500 yards away. He said it was simple just look between the legs!
Heck, most people can not tell the difference between a wolf howl and that of a coyote. And the coyote keeps down the vermin population such as rats, ground hogs, prairie dogs and yappy little ankle bitters.
How in the hell is that possible? A wolf howl and coyote yelp sound nothing alike, and I’ve heard both many times in the woods.
Wolves have decimated the elk herds in Montana. They literally eat the hunting dogs alive. There’s nothing good about them which is why they were hunted to extinction by the ranchers in the first place.
LOL.
Pending return my butt. They are already here, down out of Wyoming.
If they are in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming and they are there. They are already there in Colorado. Introduce them? Answer the door idiots. They did that in Yellowstone years ago.
Relax Jim. Stupid runs deep with this species.
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