From Western Slope Now:
DENVER (AP) — A federal judge said she would decide by Friday whether to temporarily halt the impending reintroduction of gray wolves to Colorado under a voter-approved initiative, after representatives of the state’s cattle industry went to court to try to stop the predators’ release.
If the judge sides with the industry, the decision would scramble Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s plans of searching for, capturing and transporting up to 10 wolves from Oregon starting Sunday.
The wolves are supposed to be released by Dec. 31, the deadline imposed under a 2020 ballot proposal that passed by a narrow margin. The animals would be among the first gray wolves in Colorado in decades.
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US judge to decide Friday if Colorado can reintroduce wolves over cattle industry objections
From Western Slope Now:
DENVER (AP) — A federal judge said she would decide by Friday whether to temporarily halt the impending reintroduction of gray wolves to Colorado under a voter-approved initiative, after representatives of the state’s cattle industry went to court to try to stop the predators’ release.
If the judge sides with the industry, the decision would scramble Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s plans of searching for, capturing and transporting up to 10 wolves from Oregon starting Sunday.
The wolves are supposed to be released by Dec. 31, the deadline imposed under a 2020 ballot proposal that passed by a narrow margin. The animals would be among the first gray wolves in Colorado in decades.
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Colorado ranchers launch last-ditch effort to block wolves. Here’s how.
From The Journal:
Two ranching groups in Colorado are suing Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in federal court to block the release of wolves in western Colorado.
“There is just a point where you get down to ‘this is not right,’” said Ken Spann with the Gunnison County Stockgrowers’ Association, which joined the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association in the complaint filed late Monday in U.S. District Court in Denver. “This is not an objection to the voter mandate. This is about how CPW is proceeding vis-à-vis the livestock industry in the Western Slope.”
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Study reveals the red wolf’s ecological impact
From Smoky Mountain News:
According to a study published last month in the scientific journal Animal Conservation, wild red wolves in eastern North Carolina had a significant ecological impact prior to their dramatic decline in recent years.
The study tracked wildlife detection rates from 2015 to 2021 using dozens of motion-activated camera traps in the Alligator River and Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuges, the core of the red wolf recovery area.
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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Initiates Effort for a National Dialogue Around Working Landscapes and Gray Wolves and Thriving Communities and Cultures
From U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today launched a new effort to create and foster a national dialogue around how communities can live with gray wolves (Canus lupus) to include conflict prevention, long-term stability and community security.
To foster the long-term conservation of wolves and address the concerns of varied communities, the Service recognizes a need to bring interested members of the public together for transparent and thoughtful conversations. These discussions will include those who live with wolves and those who do not but want to know they have a place on the landscape.
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Wolves get new frontier in Colorado, stoking political tension
From Oregon Public Broadcasting:
Wildlife officials plan to release gray wolves in Colorado in coming weeks, at the behest of urban voters and to the dismay of rural residents who don’t want the predators but have waning influence in the Democratic-led state.
The most ambitious wolf reintroduction effort in the U.S. in almost three decades marks a sharp departure from aggressive efforts by Republican-led states to cull wolf packs. More releases planned for Colorado over the next several years will start to fill in one of the last remaining major gaps in the western U.S. for a species that historically ranged from northern Canada to the desert southwest.
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How the Endangered Species Act Saved America
From Time:
Climate change, it turns out, is not the first time humanity has re‑made the Earth. Or resorted to a Hail Mary to save it.
Fifty years ago, in a crowning achievement of American environmental legislation, the country passed a law on the short list of our very best ideas. The Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 reversed one of the most disturbing histories of wildlife destruction of any modern nation, meriting its characterization by the Supreme Court as the most comprehensive legislation for endangered species on the globe. The ESA was an expression of our country’s long history of extending rights to those who lack them, expanding the circle of morality and compassion in a history that reveals us as a people. Today, the ESA may be equally as important for what it says about our will to stave off environmental disaster.
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US wildlife managers capture wandering Mexican wolf, attempt dating game ahead of breeding season
From AP News:
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A match made in the wilds of New Mexico?
An endangered Mexican wolf captured last weekend after wandering hundreds of miles from Arizona to New Mexico is now being readied for a dating game of sorts as part of federal reintroduction efforts.
But only time will tell whether the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service can succeed in finding a suitable mate for the female wolf numbered F2754. The newly captured wolf will be offered a choice among two brothers that are also housed at the federal government’s wolf management facility in central New Mexico.
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Embattled wolves gain a new frontier in Democratic Colorado. The move is stoking political tensions
From AP News:
DENVER, Colo. (AP) — Wildlife officials plan to release gray wolves in Colorado in coming weeks, at the behest of urban voters and to the dismay of rural residents who don’t want the predators but have waning influence in the Democratic-led state.
The most ambitious wolf reintroduction effort in the U.S. in almost three decades marks a sharp departure from aggressive efforts by Republican-led states to cull wolf packs. More releases planned for Colorado over the next several years will start to fill in one of the last remaining major gaps in the western U.S. for a species that historically ranged from northern Canada to the desert southwest.
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MEXICAN WOLVES GO AFTER SAME PREY AS GRAY WOLVES
From The Wildlife Society:
Despite their smaller size, Mexican wolves prey on the same species as their larger gray wolf cousins to the north—and in nearly the same quantity.
Many researchers have looked into gray wolf diet in northern states and in Canada. But nobody had ever published research on the diet of Mexican wolves, despite a number of informal work and field observations.
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Lawsuit to delay wolf reintroduction in Colorado filed in U.S. District Court
From Colorado Politics:
The Colorado Cattlemen’s Association and the Gunnison County Stockgrowers Association are suing to prevent the introduction of gray wolves in the state.
The lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, named the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Colorado Parks and Wildlife as defendants, according to a statement from the plaintiffs.
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