Oregon to send 10 gray wolves to Colorado to help kick off state’s reintroduction efforts
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has agreed to send 10 gray wolves to Colorado to support the state’s reintroduction efforts.
The announcement by Colorado Parks and Wildlife said the wolves will come from northeast Oregon, where they are most abundant in the state.
The wolves will transported by the end of the year so Colorado can meet a voter-approved deadline and begin the process of reintroducing the species, according to the announcement. Colorado's wolves were killed off by 1940, though a few wolves have been recorded here and there as recently as 2020.
Colorado will begin capturing the Oregon wolves in December, with the ODFW assisting by sharing location information and best practices for capture. Colorado will absorb all costs related to the project.
“Oregon has a long history of helping other states meet their conservation goals by providing animals for translocation efforts," said Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Curt Melcher. "Some of our wildlife populations were also restored thanks to other states doing the same for us, including Rocky Mountain elk, bighorn sheep and Rocky Mountain goat.”
Melcher said removal of 10 wolves will not impact Oregon's conservation goals.
Oregon has a minimum of 178 wolves, according to the latest statewide count. The number of wolves in the state has grown steadily since they started returning during the early 2000s. Their growth has slowed significantly in recent years due in part to deaths due to car accidents, poaching and lethal removal for attacking livestock.
The wolves in Oregon are descendants of wolves reintroduced in Idaho in 1996 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife said it hopes to transport five males and five females between the ages of one and five, when they would naturally leave their born pack.
CPW staff will work with contracted helicopter crews and spotter planes to capture wolves.
Wolves will be tested and treated for disease at the source sites.
Collars will be placed on wolves and physical measurements will be done in the field in Oregon.
Wolves will be crated in sturdy aluminum crates and transported to Colorado either by truck or airplane.
“We are grateful to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife for working with our agency on this critical next step in reintroducing gray wolves in the state,” said Colorado Parks and Wildlife Director Jeff Davis. “This agreement will help ensure Colorado Parks and Wildlife can meet its statutory mandate to begin releasing wolves in Colorado by December 31, 2023.”
More information about Colorado’s wolf reintroduction efforts is available on their website.
Olivia Stevens is an outdoor journalism intern at the Statesman Journal. She can be reached at OStevens@statesmanjournal.com Find her on Twitter at @byoliviastevens.
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Oregon sending gray wolves to Colorado for reintroduction
