Judge allows relocation of wolves from Oregon to Colorado

OREGON/COLORADO — Some Oregon wolves will soon have a new home. A federal judge has denied a request for a temporary stay from ranchers that aimed to block the reintroduction of gray wolves in the Centennial State. 

While the lawsuit will continue, Judge Regina Rodriguez’s ruling allows Colorado to proceed with its plan to find, capture and transport up to 10 wolves from Oregon. The deadline to put the predators in Colorado under the voter-approved initiative is December 31.

The lawsuit from the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association and The Gunnison County Stockgrowers’ Association alleges that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to adequately review the potential impacts of Colorado’s plan to release up to 50 wolves in Colorado over the next several years.

The groups argued that the inevitable wolf attacks on livestock would come at significant cost to ranchers, the industry that helps drive the local economies where wolves would be released.

Attorneys for the U.S. government said that the requirements for environmental reviews had been met, and they pointed to a state compensation program that pays owners if their livestock are killed by wolves. That compensation program — up to $15,000 per animal provided by the state for lost animals — is partly why Rodriguez said she sided with state and federal agencies.

Rodriguez further argued that ranchers’ concerns didn’t outweigh the public interest in meeting the will of the people of Colorado, who voted for wolf reintroduction in a 2020 ballot initiative.

Colorado Parks & Wildlife has not said where or which packs the wolves in Oregon will be taken from.

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Elkhorn Media Group