Joe Rogan and Cam Hanes recently did a great job articulating the complexities of Colorado Proposition 114 – a citizen’s ballot initiate to reintroduce wolves into the state.
Managing wolves is extremely difficult due to the emotional reactions the species tends to invoke in people. Safari Club International and other organizations, including the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Colorado Farm Bureau, Colorado Woolgrowers, Colorado Cattlemen, and more, have been campaigning throughout the state to reinforce the notion that wolves need to be managed through the same scientific processes that every other species in the state is managed through, not by emotionally driven citizen initiatives.
The fact of the matter is, Colorado Parks & Wildlife (CPW) – the state agency entrusted and qualified to make wildlife management decisions like this – has voted NOT to introduce wolves on 4 separate occasions, most recently in 2016. CPW currently has an existing management plan in place for migrating wolves from surrounding areas but most importantly, wolves are already in Colorado. There more than 100 wolf sightings reported in Colorado each year, and reports indicate that packs may be already established in the Northwest corner of the state, having made the trek from nearby Wyoming.
Forcing CPW to spend millions of dollars to expedite the reintroduction of wolves would negatively impact funding for other more pressing conservation responsibilities the agency is tasked with. Skirting the traditional and established wildlife management decision-making process that CPW has used to manage all other species in the state and using the election process to override the scientists the state already pays to make these types of decision instead is a horrible precedent to set, and making management decisions through the ballot backs threatens to unravel the principles that have made the United States a world leader in wildlife conservation.
With November 3rd fast approaching, click here and pledge to vote NO on Proposition 114.
