Colorado wolves kill sheep
A Grand County ranch lost eight sheep to wolves on July 28, 2024.
- A dog was attacked in Jackson County, Colorado by a wolf or wolves, marking the second wolf depredation in the county in just over a month.
- Colorado Parks and Wildlife confirmed the attack, which occurred on March 9, but did not disclose whether the dog was injured or killed.
- A rancher in the area reported seeing an uncollared wolf on his property, raising concerns about the presence of additional uncollared wolves in the region.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife has confirmed a dog was attacked by a wolf or wolves in Jackson County, just more than a month after the last confirmed wolf depredation, also in Jackson County.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife said in an email to the Coloradoan on Wednesday it is not sharing information other than what is posted on its confirmed wolf depredation page.
That report says the depredation occurred March 9 and involved one dog and that no claim has been filed.
CPW defines a depredation as physical trauma resulting in injury or death. It was not confirmed by the agency if the dog was injured or killed.
“CPW has team members working with the producer impacted, as well as surrounding producers to identify and deploy non-lethal wolf-livestock conflict minimization measures,” CPW spokesperson Travis Duncan, wrote in the email to the Coloradoan.
The Coloradoan sent an email March 13 asking CPW for details about the March 9 depredation after being notified of the incident by sources familiar with the situation.
CPW spokesperson Rachel Gonzales chose not to confirm or deny the attack when asked by the Coloradoan.
It was the second confirmed wolf depredation of livestock in Jackson County in just more than a month. The dog involved in the March 9 depredation was a working cattle dog, which is covered under the state's wolf recovery plan compensation program.
CPW stated in a news release sent Feb. 15 a cow was confirmed killed by a wolf or wolves Feb. 5. Greg Sykes told the Coloradoan the depredation occurred on a ranch he manages about 12 miles west of Walden.
That depredation was the first recognized as being from a wolf not familiar to the state wildlife agency.
CPW said in the release the depredation was not by released wolves fitted with collars or two uncollared wolves the state acknowledges have been in the state.
The ranch was paid $2,097.66 for the loss, according to CPW's wolf depredation page.
The March 9 depredation was the first confirmed by a wolf of a dog since March 13, 2023, when members of the North Park pack killed Sykes' working cattle border collie, and injured a pet dog on a neighboring ranch.
Sykes was paid $15,000 for his loss, the maximum compensation allowed under the state's wolf recovery plan. Pet dogs are not covered under the plan.
North Park pack members injured a working cattle dog and killed a pet dog on the same ranch northeast of Walden in January of 2022. That claim totaled $1,252.72.
Two ranchers' wolf compensation claims in 2024 have nearly depleted the state's budget of $350,000 and there are still more than $200,000 in outstanding claims waiting to be heard by the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission.
An uncollared wolf was in the area where the recent wolf depredation occurred
The March 9 depredation did not take place near the Feb. 5 depredation in Jackson County, according to Jackson County rancher Don Gittleson, who out of respect for the ranch's privacy declined to comment on specifics of where the most recent depredation took place.
Gittleson told the Coloradoan, he saw a wolf on his ranch northeast of Walden on March 17. He said he was feeding cattle a mile from his house when he had a clear view of the wolf from about 150 yards away as it looked at him before moving off over a rise.
Gittleson, who has had numerous wolf depredations on his ranch, has seen wolves on his ranch in person and said it was without question a wolf.
Gittleson said he did not see a collar on it but that it could have been hid by the wolf's fur.
He said he called the sighting in to CPW and asked if there were collared wolves in the area. He said the person he spoke to said there were no collared wolves in the area but that they would check on the latest data collected from GPS collars and give him an update.
“I never heard a peep, which leads me to believe we have an uncollared wolf around here,” Gittleson said. “I asked because there's been a lot of talk around here about the uncollared wolves people are seeing. I guess that means we have at least one more uncollared wolf up here.”
CPW acknowledges 29 collared wolves in the state plus two uncollared wolves.
