A judge at the federal level announced that a decision on whether to pause the planned reintroduction of gray wolves in Colorado, approved by voters, will be made by Friday. This comes after the state’s cattle industry took legal action to prevent the release of these predators.

If the court rules in favor of the industry, it would disrupt Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s scheduled efforts to locate, trap, and move as many as 10 wolves from Oregon beginning on Sunday.

The gray wolves are expected to be set free by December 31st, in accordance with a 2020 vote that narrowly passed. These creatures would be some of the first of their kind to inhabit Colorado in many years.

The Gunnison County Stockgrowers’ Association and Colorado Cattlemen’s Association have initiated legal action on Monday against Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in order to stop the releases.

The attorneys for the groups stated that attacks on livestock would have a detrimental impact on both the livestock industry and the communities it supports. The court focused on legal details during the arguments, but the overall argument was that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did not properly assess Colorado’s plan to introduce 50 wolves onto both state and private property in the coming years.

Attorneys for the U.S. government stated that additional assessments of environmental impact were unnecessary and advised Judge Regina M. Rodriguez to deny the industry’s appeal.

According to attorneys from the U.S. Department of Justice, future economic losses experienced by ranchers would not be considered irreparable, which is the necessary criteria for the temporary injunction requested by the industry. They referenced a state program that provides compensation to owners whose livestock are preyed upon by wolves.

In the 1930s, government-sponsored measures such as poisoning and trapping led to the extinction of gray wolves in most of the United States. In 1975, when there were only approximately 1,000 gray wolves remaining in northern Minnesota, they were granted protections as an endangered species.

Wolves have made a strong comeback in the Great Lakes area. They have also repopulated several western states, including Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Oregon, Washington, and most recently, California. This was made possible by a previous reintroduction project in the 1990s, which brought wolves from Canada to central Idaho and Yellowstone National Park.

Approximately 7,500 wolves reside in approximately 1,400 packs across certain areas of the contiguous United States. If they were to return to the central Rocky Mountains of Colorado, it would fulfill a longstanding goal of wildlife supporters and close one of the few remaining significant areas where the species used to inhabit in the western United States.

A small group of wolves from Yellowstone National Park traveled from Wyoming to Colorado in the past few years. Upon returning to Wyoming, where it is legal to shoot wolves, some of these animals were killed. In Colorado, they have been accused of attacking sheep and cattle.

While individual ranchers may suffer greatly from these losses, their overall impact on the industry is minimal.

Authorities in Colorado report that they are presently overseeing a population of solely two wolves within the state.

The proposal to introduce a permanent wolf population by releasing animals from other areas has widened the gap between people living in rural and urban areas. Residents of cities and suburbs mostly supported the idea of bringing back these top predators into rural regions, while ranchers in those areas are concerned about potential attacks on their livestock, which plays a significant role in the local economy.

In September, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released an environmental assessment on a 10(j) regulation that allows for the lethal removal of wolves in Colorado in specific situations, such as protecting livestock. Despite being classified as an endangered species at the federal level, this rule still permits their killing.

The regulation is a crucial component of Colorado’s plan to reintroduce wolves. Livestock organizations argue that the evaluation of the regulation did not accurately reflect the complete impact of wolf reintroduction.

Lisa Reynolds, Assistant Attorney General of Colorado, called for a hearing on Thursday in response to the livestock organizations’ request for a temporary restraining order from Rodriguez to halt the release of wolves. In a filing to the court on Wednesday, Reynolds stated that the releases would not commence before December 17.

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Reported from Billings was Brown.

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Bedayn is a member of the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. This initiative is run by Report for America, a non-profit organization that sends journalists to local newsrooms to cover topics that are not getting enough attention.

Source: wral.com