Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy photo
Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) has updated its rules to allow ranchers to kill wolves that are actively attacking “working dogs.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service late last year finalized a document, known as the 10(j) rule, that outlined when wolves could be killed in Colorado and paved the way for the species to be re-introduced in the state.
Months after the release of 10 wolves in the state, the CPW Commission voted unanimously on Friday to update state regulations to reflect the 10(j) rule’s language regarding “working dogs.”
Language allowing wolves caught “in the act of attacking” livestock or working dogs to be killed was included in the rule, but the words “or working dogs” were “inadvertently” left out of the state regulations, Commission Chair Dallas May said on Friday.
The rule only applies to working dogs, like guard dogs or herding dogs used in livestock production. Pet owners can find information on how to protect their animals from wolves on the CPW website.
Since CPW re-introduced wolves into the state late last year, it has not reported any instances of wolves attacking working dogs or any wolf depredations involving dogs.
But prior to re-introduction, there were two confirmed wolf depredations from wolves that had wandered into Colorado from Wyoming that involved dogs. In January 2022, a Jackson County ranch reported a dog carcass and another injured dog, both border collies, whose wounds were attributed to wolves.
CPW also reported that a wolf killed a dog in Jackson County in March 2023, prior to re-introduction.
Under the federal Endangered Species Act, the 10(j) rule considers wolves as “nonessential, experimental” species in Colorado, allowing for the species to be killed in certain instances, including during active attacks on livestock or working dogs. It also allows for the state to issue permits to ranchers to kill wolves responsible for chronic depredation, although no such permits have yet been issued.
CPW Assistant Director for Aquatic, Terrestrial, and Natural Resources Reid DeWalt also gave a brief update on the state’s wolves on Friday. CPW confirmed the first wolf pup from a breeding pair last month in Grand County, he said, adding that there are likely more wolf pups that have yet to be confirmed.
He said wolf killings of livestock have continued this summer but are more spread out than the string of depredations that occurred this spring in Grand County, when four cattle and two calves were confirmed to have been killed by wolves in April.
“We continue to have a few sporadic depredations but nothing like we had seen this spring,” he said. “Things have calmed down somewhat. But we do see more widespread depredations but more sporadic in nature.”
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