Posted on Dec 20, 2023
Oregon wolves bring joy, anxiety and uncertainty to Colorado
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If any of the wolves released on Colorado’s Western Slope ever make it to the sprawling hills near the Stanko ranch in northwest Colorado, the family hopes the predators won’t want to go near Samson.
The 11-week-old Turkish Boz Shepherd didn’t look menacing on a cold day last month when he playfully pawed at a bone his sibling was chewing near the livestock pens. But each week, Samson is putting on pounds, developing a deeper bark and bonding with the dozens of pigs, cows and hens he’s being raised to protect from the new wolf packs.
He’s also spending more time just staring out into the hills surrounding this ranch, which is home to more than a hundred bird species and a cattle operation the Stanko family has run for more than a century.
Even Samson’s ears were cropped to prevent a predator like a wolf from grabbing onto him during a skirmish.
The 11-week-old Turkish Boz Shepherd didn’t look menacing on a cold day last month when he playfully pawed at a bone his sibling was chewing near the livestock pens. But each week, Samson is putting on pounds, developing a deeper bark and bonding with the dozens of pigs, cows and hens he’s being raised to protect from the new wolf packs.
He’s also spending more time just staring out into the hills surrounding this ranch, which is home to more than a hundred bird species and a cattle operation the Stanko family has run for more than a century.
Even Samson’s ears were cropped to prevent a predator like a wolf from grabbing onto him during a skirmish.
Oregon wolves bring joy, anxiety and uncertainty to Colorado
Posted from opb.org
Wildlife
Posted 5 mo ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Tears of joy
On the other side of Colorado’s continental divide, Rob Edward isn’t anxious at all about the incoming wolves. The director of the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project is overcome with emotion as he talks about how excited he is to witness a reintroduction he’s been pursuing for more than a quarter century.
Edward sees wolves as a vital part of Colorado’s landscape. And he predicts that in the coming decades, their return will have a ripple effect. He said elk and deer will become more mobile as they avoid the predator. That means more willow and aspen trees will grow, bringing more songbirds. Even the rivers, he said, will benefit from this chain of events.
“It’s a manifestation of my life’s work, and I feel extremely fortunate to have spent my life doing something that culminates in the world being a better place from an ecological perspective,” he said.
Edward is planning to go on a wolf watching trip once he finds out where the wolves are. He predicts the wolves won’t be making a beeline for city centers after they take their first steps from their cages.
“These big dogs are going to be pretty freaked out,” he said. “So they’re going to try to get away from all the hubbub as quickly as possible. Hopefully they’ll keep tabs on each other and travel together, and ultimately mate. And maybe even by this spring we can have pups on the ground in central Colorado. That’s huge.”
Adrian Treves, an environmental studies professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, also said he thinks wolves are poised to improve Colorado’s landscape. Treves points to studies showing the presence of wolves makes forests more resilient to invasive plants and even reduces vehicle collisions with deer and moose by making the prey more alert and unlikely to enter populated areas.
“We hear a lot about farm animals being lost, and, ‘Ohhh, this is such a terrible cost.’ But it’s less than 1% of farms everywhere it’s been studied, or less than 1% of the standing livestock, that are ever affected by wolves,” Treves said. “So those costs are completely dwarfed by these economic and ecosystem benefits that wolves are generating.”...
..."Tears of joy
On the other side of Colorado’s continental divide, Rob Edward isn’t anxious at all about the incoming wolves. The director of the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project is overcome with emotion as he talks about how excited he is to witness a reintroduction he’s been pursuing for more than a quarter century.
Edward sees wolves as a vital part of Colorado’s landscape. And he predicts that in the coming decades, their return will have a ripple effect. He said elk and deer will become more mobile as they avoid the predator. That means more willow and aspen trees will grow, bringing more songbirds. Even the rivers, he said, will benefit from this chain of events.
“It’s a manifestation of my life’s work, and I feel extremely fortunate to have spent my life doing something that culminates in the world being a better place from an ecological perspective,” he said.
Edward is planning to go on a wolf watching trip once he finds out where the wolves are. He predicts the wolves won’t be making a beeline for city centers after they take their first steps from their cages.
“These big dogs are going to be pretty freaked out,” he said. “So they’re going to try to get away from all the hubbub as quickly as possible. Hopefully they’ll keep tabs on each other and travel together, and ultimately mate. And maybe even by this spring we can have pups on the ground in central Colorado. That’s huge.”
Adrian Treves, an environmental studies professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, also said he thinks wolves are poised to improve Colorado’s landscape. Treves points to studies showing the presence of wolves makes forests more resilient to invasive plants and even reduces vehicle collisions with deer and moose by making the prey more alert and unlikely to enter populated areas.
“We hear a lot about farm animals being lost, and, ‘Ohhh, this is such a terrible cost.’ But it’s less than 1% of farms everywhere it’s been studied, or less than 1% of the standing livestock, that are ever affected by wolves,” Treves said. “So those costs are completely dwarfed by these economic and ecosystem benefits that wolves are generating.”...
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