Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) is temporarily suspending its program to lethally remove wolves that continually prey on livestock. The announcement comes at the end of a tumultuous and deadly summer for northwest Colorado ranchers, with CPW confirming the wolf-related deaths of 43 livestock over the last three months.
“Colorado’s livestock producers have worked in good faith, invested in nonlethal tools, and done what this administration has asked of them. In return, we expect this administration to uphold its commitment to act when wolves repeatedly kill livestock,” said Mark LeValley, president of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. “Lethal removal is a necessary part of wolf management and conflict management, and it must be used when wolves become chronically depredating. Suspending that tool leaves ranching families to bear the consequences and undermines the accountability this administration owes rural Colorado.”
CPW made the decision after evaluating survival rates and overall challenges of its wolf program, which it says numbers 45 as of Sept. 24. So far in 2026, it killed five problem wolves due to chronic depredation.
"Achieving a successful reintroduction effort and a self-sustaining population of wolves will require doing everything we can to ensure the survival of existing wolves in the state,” said CPW Director Laura Clellan.
Ranchers say CPW stepping away from its wolf plan's chronic depredation management directive sends a poor and unsupportive message to those left to deal with wolves in their day-to-day lives.
“This reprehensible decision directly contradicts direct stakeholder input that was painstakingly gathered over years of good faith dialogue between the department, sportsmen, wildlife advocates, farmers, ranchers, biologists and more,” says Carlyle Currier, a fourth-generation Western Slope rancher and president of the Colorado Farm Bureau. “It’s nearly unfathomable that CPW intends to abdicate their obligations to our farming, ranching and rural communities after so many strides in rebuilding trust on conflict mitigation, nonlethal tool employment, fair-compensation structures and broader reintroduction success.”
"It’s shocking to see CPW abandon its landowner partners to capitulate to politics and jerk the rug out from under livestock producers that are experiencing ongoing wolf attacks on livestock," said Bonnie Eddy, Colorado Wool Growers executive director. "It’s been very obvious since the first wolf release that the efficacy of non-lethal deterrents is very limited.”
The Rocky Mountain Wolf Project, the group behind the narrowly passed 2020 ballot initiative that forced CPW to introduce wolves into Colorado, said the agency's announcement is "well-received." Board member Gary Skiba added, "CPW is doing the right thing both ethically and biologically. CPW has handled the restoration process professionally and effectively."
Colorado Politics reports that the program’s annual budget is $2.1 million or almost three times more than original 2020 estimates voters were told it would cost, while compensation is budgeted for $350,000 per year. However, due to increasing conflicts, CPW is expected to pay livestock ranchers more than one million dollars in wolf-livestock compensation in 2026 alone or $650,000 more than what is allotted.
From Jan 1 to Sept. 30, the number of confirmed depredations is 60 and includes ewes, sheep, cows, calves, steers, one bull and one dog.
"The message to ranching families is difficult to miss. Protecting the wolf reintroduction program now takes precedence over protecting the livestock and livelihoods of the people forced to live with its consequences," said Rep. Chris Richardson (R-56). "That is unacceptable."
Since their introduction in December 2023, CPW confirms that wolves killed 171 livestock, dogs and llamas included. Many other suspected cases were not confirmed due to passage of time and other factors that did not determine a specific cause, while other cases were not reported.
About Hunt 2 Conserve
Hunt 2 Conserve is a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization affiliated with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Its mission is to advance a legacy of hunting and conservation by educating, activating and developing stewards and defenders of these fundamentally American ideals. For more information, go to hunt2conserve.org.
(Photo credit: CPW/Jerry Neal)
