Wolf news to watch in 2025

From Rocky Mountain PBS:

DENVER — A call to quell emotions during the four-and-a-half hour public comment period during a recent Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) Commission meeting did not work. During the meeting’s public comment portion, nearly 75 people gave personal pleas regarding wolf reintroduction. Commissioners denied a petition filed by 26 Colorado organizations to delay efforts to bring more gray wolves to the state, allowing CPW staff to carry out their plan to introduce up to 15 new wolves to Colorado this month.
But the fight over wolves is far from over. Here are six things to watch in 2025 related to wolves in Colorado.

Mystery surrounds gunshot death of Colorado wolf; agencies refusing to answer questions

From The Coloradoan:

Mystery continues to shroud the circumstances of how Colorado’s reintroduced wolf 2309 died, prompting wide speculation from the public and many unanswered questions from state and federal wildlife agencies.

Speculation of wolf 2309’s death swirls as Colorado’s imminent next round of reintroduced wolves continues under a cloak of secrecy with Colorado Parks and Wildlife stating threats of safety to its staff and wolves are a concern at a legislative hearing Wednesday.

Click here for the full story.

Wolf protection reduced in Europe. Is biodiversity at stake?

From EuroNews.com:

The wolf is no longer a “strictly protected species” in Europe.

In December, the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention voted to downgrade its status, accepting a controversial EU proposal. A proposal in fact supported by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, after a wolf killed her pony in 2022.

The wolf remains a “protected species”, but Member States will now have more flexibility to cull it. Farmers have long been calling for less stringent rules on culling. For the environmental associations, however, this is a blow to biodiversity, with no scientific basis.

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Iron Range hunter charged with killing wolf

From DuluthNewsTribune.com:

GRAND RAPIDS — A man allegedly admitted to killing a federally protected wolf at his deer stand near Calumet, among other hunting violations.
Steven Robert Pavich, 63, of Ceylon, Minnesota, reportedly told a conservation officer in November that he has his “own opinion on wolves” and simply wanted the animal “out of there,” according to charges filed earlier this month.

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Combating wolf depredation: Idaho’s funding initiatives

From AgProud.com:

Idaho has implemented various initiatives to control the wolf population and mitigate livestock losses. With funding from both state programs and private organizations, ranchers now have new tools to combat wolf-related depredation.

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Colorado’s GOP members of Congress call for end to wolf reintroduction, removal from endangered species list

From CBSNews.com:

All four Republican members of Colorado’s Congressional Delegation are calling for an end to wolf reintroduction in the state and delisting the gray wolf from the Endangered Species Act.

In a joint statement, Reps. Lauren Boebert, Jeff Crank, Gabe Evans, and Jeff Hurd said they’re “demanding answers” from the U.S. Department of the Interior on the controversial program.

Click here for the full story.

Colorado’s historic wolf reintroduction faces barrage of challenges a year after first paws hit the ground

From Phys.org:

Depending on who’s talking, Colorado’s wolves are an existential threat to ranching, an imperiled native species crucial to a healthy ecosystem, a ruthless predator that kills for sport or a beautiful species that enriches lives.

Despite a full year passing since the first reintroduced canines put paws on the ground, tensions over the apex predator remain high.

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How lynx and wolf reintroductions to Britain could be shaped by preconceptions and psychology

From TheConversation.com:

Four lynx were recently and illegally released into the Scottish highlands. The news prompted searchers to comb the Cairngorms region, the UK’s biggest national park. People were warned not to approach the animals if they encountered them.

The astonishing recovery of lynx, wolf and bear populations across Europe over the last three decades is forcing us to confront our innate responses to animals like these once more. Now, with the idea of large carnivore reintroductions to Britain gathering pace, we are having to consider our potential relationship with them here.

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Wolves From Canada Arrive In Colorado, Nobody’s Saying Where They’ll Be Released

From Cowboy State Daily:

Wolves from British Columbia, Canada, were flown into Colorado, but officials aren’t saying where they’ll be released, stirring up renewed criticism that the state’s wolf reintroduction program is too secretive.

“People are more upset about them being so secretive about it than they are about the wolves being here,” Garfield County, Colorado, commissioner Perry Will told Cowboy State Daily on Monday.

“Some are even disgusted,” he added.

Click here for the full story.

Endangered Mexican wolf pups born at Brookfield Zoo Chicago begin journey back to the wild

From Fox32Chicago:

BROOKFIELD, Ill. – In this morning’s Good News Guarantee, volunteer pilots are keeping animals we know and love from becoming extinct, and their mission begins at Brookfield Zoo Chicago. They are tiny but mighty. Seven Mexican wolf pups, born at Brookfield Zoo Chicago, are on a journey into the wild.

Click here for the full story.