In November of 2020, Colorado passed Proposition 114 requiring the Colorado Park and Wildlife Commission to take the necessary steps to begin the reintroduction of gray wolves into parts of Colorado by the end of 2023. An agreement between the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission allowed for the translocation of up to ten gray wolves from December 2023 to March 2024. 

It all began the summer of 2019 when the Rocky Mountain Wolf Action Fund circulated a petition asking Colorado voters to place the question, “Shall there be a change to the Colorado Revised Statutes concerning the restoration of gray wolves through their reintroduction on designated lands in Colorado located west of the Continental Divide, and, in connection therewith, requiring the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission, after holding statewide hearings and using scientific data, to implement a plan to restore and manage gray wolves; prohibiting the commission from imposing any land, water, or resource use restrictions on private landowners to further the plan; and requiring the commission to fairly compensate owners for losses of livestock caused by gray wolves?”

A total of 215,370 signatures were submitted to the Colorado Secretary of State office in December 2019. In January, Proposition 114 was born. 

According to the Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan (Plan), from the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission, the primary goal of the plan is: “To recover and maintain a viable, self-sustaining wolf population in Colorado, while concurrently working to minimize wolf-related conflicts with domestic animals, other wildlife, and people.”

The plan was to transfer about 30 to 50 wolves within a three-to-five-year period from the northern Rockies states, including Wyoming. 

According to the Plan, “The proximity of Wyoming to Colorado may lead to a higher potential of wolves returning across state lines after being reintroduced.”

There is an 11-year-old state law concealing the identity of hunters that legally kill wolves in Wyoming. The law further explains that if a wolf dies well outside of its normal range in southern Wyoming, even the general region of the killing is considered confidential. 

Traditionally, wolf packs hunt within a territory of 50 square miles to over 1,000 square miles. 

I have personally seen the devastation gray wolves can cause to livestock. I have seen the pain and suffering from animals as they are left to die with unimaginable injuries. I have seen the sadness, fear and loss in livestock owners from many different states after a wolf pack has slaughtered more than a handful of healthy sheep and cattle in their pastures.

There is a difference between killing to survive and killing because it’s just an instinct. 

It’s been proven that wolves do engage in “thrill kills” and during the catastrophic event, dozens of animals are attacked. Some of those animals are left to bleed out, spared from an instant death. 

Entire herds of sheep, calves and horses have been slaughtered by the reintroduced gray wolf and the species is just as detrimental to our wildlife. Entire elk herds have been massacred. Mule deer and white tail deer have been savagely slaughtered. Let’s not forget to mention some of our larger spieces like elk, moose and bison because the gray wolf shows no mercy. 

Wolves are moving closer and closer to family homes, in towns, with children and small animals, posing and everlasting threat to communities with little to no predator responses. 

Sure, there is some compensation for livestock owners when wolf attacks decimate livestock herds. But that compensation is nowhere near the actual value of the said animal. There is no guarantee the livestock producer will break even, even with the compensation, it’s nothing more than a gamble. 

Now, let’s talk about when those wolves begin to travel and roam. 

Why shouldn’t the citizens of Wyoming have the right to protect their livelihood, their animals, their livestock, and their families?

There has been a lot of controversy on the issue, but the concept is pretty simple. 

Wyoming didn’t sign up for Proposition 114. We are just a neighboring state, forced to now coexist with neighboring wolves. I look at it this way, just because marijuana is legal in Colorado, doesn’t mean Wyoming citizens welcome drug dealers crossing the state line. 

There is a negative effect on our towns, our communities, and our state with the reintroduction of neighboring gray wolves which will impact our livelihoods and food sources for many years to follow in Wyoming.