Colorado Parks and Wildlife hosts conflict mitigation meetings as ranchers, wildlife advocates ask for pause in wolf reintroduction

From Post Independent:

With more wolves on the way, Colorado Parks and Wildlife is hosting several trainings this fall to help ranchers learn about nonlethal mitigation strategies.

The state wildlife agency has partnered on the training sessions with the Colorado Department of Agriculture, the Colorado State University Extension and the Wildlife Services arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

So far, the agency has announced four free meetings, two of which were held in Moffat and Routt counties this week.

The next two trainings will be hosted in Meeker and Glenwood Springs in November. The Colorado Department of Agriculture says more meetings are being planned.

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ODFW Overhauling wolf depredation notices. Weekly emails discontinued

From Elk Horn Media Group:

EASTERN OREGON – In conjunction with the latest wolf depredation and lethal removal update provided by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (a summary of which can be found here), ODFW announced it would be discontinuing weekly emails announcing wolf depredations and lethal removal authorizations. This information will still be available online, but email subscribers to ODFW’s Wolf Updates page will now need to check for updates manually.

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Here’s what Colorado’s wolves have been up to the last month

From Summit Daily:

In October, Colorado’s collared wolves continued to explore several of the state’s northwestern counties.

According to the most recent map released by Colorado Parks and Wildlife, which shows their activity from Sept. 24 to Oct. 22, the wolves continued to move primarily around portions of Routt, Jackson, Eagle, Summit, Grand and Larimer counties.

The map uses Colorado’s watershed boundaries to show where wolves have been detected.

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Federal workers kill two wolves from pack north of Elgin blamed for killing sheep recently

From Baker City Herald:

Federal employees killed two wolves from the Balloon Tree pack in northern Union County on Oct. 17 after state biologists confirmed that wolves from the pack had killed 12 sheep on private land north of Elgin the previous week.

Wolves killed four ewes and eight lambs on a 2,200-acre pasture in the Cabin Creek area around Oct. 11, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

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The American red wolf is endangered. These ‘ghost genes’ could save it

From NPR:

In honor of Halloween, we’re bringing you a Short Wave ghost story — featuring an animal that has long been the stuff of conservationist legend: the American red wolf.

This small, cinnamon-colored canid roamed free across the American Southeast, preying on deer and small mammals and occupying a key spot in Gulf Coast ecosystems. But early European settlers saw wolves as their enemies – predators that competed with human hunters for game, and that threatened farmers’ livestock and livelihoods.

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Is a wolf cull the answer as Austrian farmers struggle in the Alps?

From cgtn.com:

The EU is set to weaken the conservation status of wolves by the end of the year, which could result in widespread culling.

The legislation, however, needs to pass several EU bodies before it can come into effect.

This is a complete turnaround in the bloc’s conservation policy. Thirty years ago, the EU re-established wolf packs in areas like the Alps, where they had been extinct for decades. Now, their population has multiplied to 20,000.

However, if wolves further expand in Austria’s Alps, the remaining mountain farmers – that continue to defy low profits and hard work – are likely to quit due to wolf attacks on livestock.

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Colorado agencies offering free training on using non-lethal methods to keep wolves away from livestock

From Denver7:

BROOMFIELD, Colo. — Ahead of the second round of gray wolf reintroductions in Colorado this upcoming winter, state authorities are offering opportunities to train livestock producers to use non-lethal deterrents to protect their animals from wolves.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) explained that this is part of a larger effort to help those producers implement those non-lethal tools and coexist with wolves on the same landscape as their ranches. Examples of those methods include range riders, disposing of carcasses, guard dogs and a grant program. Each of the planned training sessions will go over those methods.

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Austria: Should wolves be protected?

From CTGN Europe:

One creature making a comeback from endangered status is the European wolf. The population has grown so successfully the EU is proposing a weakening of their conservation status.

This would allow countries more flexibility in addressing the challenges that come with wolf populations. Is this the right way forward? Johannes Pleschberger reports from Austria.

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State audit questions how $5 million intended for wolf preservation was actually used

From KSL News Radio:

SALT LAKE CITY — A state audit is questioning how the $5 million spent to delist wolves from the endangered species list was actually used.

The audit found a group called Big Game Forever initially controlled the contract. This group had control over the project for nearly a decade. However, when the project went nowhere… state auditors wondered where that money had actually gone.

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Poland to Revoke Legal Protections for Wolves Amid Controversy

From the Warsaw Business Journal:

Poland’s government has sparked significant debate by announcing plans to revoke legal protections for wolves, a move that contradicts decades of successful conservation efforts. The wolf population in Poland has grown from around 500 in 1998 to approximately 1,900 by 2018, thanks to protective measures.

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