Colorado Parks and Wildlife Director Recommends Denying Petition to Pause Wolf Reintroduction

Director Davis reiterates biological importance of reintroducing additional wolves to the state

Contacts

Perry Wheeler, Earthjustice, pwheeler@earthjustice.org, 202-792-6211

Colorado Parks and Wildlife announced today that Director Jeff Davis formally recommended denial of livestock groups’ petition that would halt wolf reintroduction this winter. The petition asks for a pause on further releases until seven management changes are adopted. According to CPW’s announcement, Director Davis recommended denial because CPW has already made each of those changes.

“CPW proactively tackled the livestock groups’ concerns and made the requested management changes,” said Tom Delehanty, attorney for Earthjustice. “Because of that, and because pausing wolf releases would violate the law, we urge the CPW Commission to follow Director Davis’s recommendation and deny this stale petition.”

State law requires CPW to restore a self-sustaining population of wolves to Colorado. As several organizations described in a recent comment letter opposing the petition, Colorado’s small population of wolves requires additional annual releases to become self-sustaining.

A young gray wolf.
Once found nationwide, gray wolves were hunted, trapped, and poisoned for decades; by 1967 there were fewer than 1,000 wolves in one small part of the Midwest. (Paul Carpenter / Getty Images)

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