On Monday, the Garfield County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to oppose “any efforts to introduce or expand the population of wolves in Colorado.”
A wildlife advocacy group is collecting signatures to put wolf reintroduction on statewide ballots in 2020. Proponents of reintroduction say they would help restore a natural order that was lost when they were hunted to near extinction in the 1940s.
Opponents to wolf reintroduction say they would hurt hunters and livestock ranchers by introducing a threat to the animals they hunt and farm.
“Not only do they kill the cattle,” said Frank Daley, a rancher from New Castle who spoke during the public comment period of Monday’s meeting. “But they bother them, they chase them around, they stir them up.”
The group petitioning to put wolf reintroduction on the ballot says it has enough signatures, which would put the decision in the hands of Colorado voters in 2020.
