Wolves

Washington officials cited a recent decline of their own wolf population as a reason to oppose the request.

The Trump administration could be inching toward delisting the species from the endangered species list.

The Trump administration is telling the state of Colorado it can no longer import wolves from Canada. That's according to a recent letter to Colorado wildlife officials from Brian Nesvik, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Since Colorado began its wolf reintroduction program two years ago, wildlife officials have worked to find non-lethal ways to stop wolves from attacking livestock. One promising strategy encourages more ranchers to use very large dogs called Turkish Boz Shepherds to guard their flocks and keep wolves away.

Pat and Jan Stanko raise 180-pound Turkish Boz Shepherds, known for loving kids, lambs, calves and tiny chicks. They’re also fierce defenders of livestock against wolves, and a nonlethal coexistence group hopes to build a team they can deploy to ranchers on short notice. Listen to "Morning Edition" host Michael Lyle, Jr. discuss this story with Colorado Sun reporter Tracy Ross and then read the entire article at the link below.

About 53% of registered voters who participated in a poll conducted over the summer said they support wolf reintroduction, while 37% said they oppose it and 10% said they were unsure or had no opinion on the program.

The agency was not aware of the uncollared wolf’s presence in the region until it attacked sheep on at least three occasions between July 20 and Aug. 2

Senate Bill 5 would move about $250,000 in funding earmarked for wolf reintroduction into a fund aimed at driving down health care costs. Colorado Parks and Wildlife will have to find the funding elsewhere to continue its reintroduction plans — which doesn’t appear to be a problem for the agency.

One of the goals of controversial wolf hunts in the Western U.S. is to help reduce the burden on ranchers, who lose livestock to wolves every year. A new study finds that those hunts have had a measurable, but small effect on livestock depredations.

The savings would be relatively meager — wolf reintroduction cost Colorado taxpayers $3.5 million last year — but the Democrat leading the measure says it’s about priorities as the legislature contends with a steep drop in state tax revenue.