This apex predator is stirring up a culture war in Colorado

You’re not using this to hunt wolves. No, it’s just like a firecracker, A big firecracker. Humans adapting with wolves is going to be the biggest obstacle that we’re going to be dealing with. After being nearly eradicated from Colorado about 80 years ago, wolves are officially back in the state thanks to the first ever voter mandated reintroduction of endangered wolves in U.S. history. These wolves captured in Oregon were set free in Colorado’s wilderness last December. You are hungry. I never thought I’d be able to get so close to a wolf. She’s a very special ambassador. Kelly Murphy, the animal care supervisor at the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center, is one of the advocates who’s helped bring wolves back to the state. Obviously, this is not an interaction would ever have in the wild, right? Absolutely. If you see a wolf in the wild, our advice is to take a picture and consider yourself lucky, because it’s probably never going to happen again. Some 2 million Gray wolves once roamed freely throughout North America, but when European settlers arrived, they brought their old world myths and hatred of wolves with them. By the 1940s, wolves were nearly wiped out. There’s so many myths and misconceptions that are surrounding wolves. Sometimes it’s difficult to understand that they’re not exactly true. As an apex predator at the top of the food chain, they help keep certain animal populations in check, which in turn helps plants, trees and other wildlife thrive. They are critical to maintaining the balance of our ecosystems, and that means that it’s a more productive landscape for ranchers to also graze their cattle. So what did the wolf do to this specific cow? So he got a hold of her by the throat, and then he got a hold of her by the hind leg. It’s healed a lot. Don Gittleson was fending off wolf incursions on his ranch in Northern Colorado long before the ballot initiative. We had wolves here for several years. They’ve been coming from neighboring Wyoming, which reintroduced wolves in the 90s. To me, this is my home to them. This is their home, and they’re not just going to leave. See these marks in the snow? Here are those the wolf tracks. That’s the last time it came through. In Colorado, the wolf reintroduction proposition barely passed, with most of the votes in favor of free introduction coming from urban areas like Denver and Boulder. People have very strong opinions about wolves, and it doesn’t matter what side they’re on. But here in rural Colorado, there’s no confusing which side they’re on. The state compensates ranchers for livestock attacks, but because it’s illegal to hunt wolves in Colorado, Don has had to get creative using donkeys. They bite and they bite hard Longhorns and shooting blanks. As for fencing, it’s a pretty big place to put a fence around. Yeah, 8 foot chain link fence to keep the wolves out. I have moose, I have mule deer, I have elk, and I have antelope that cross this country to migrate back and forth. And I would absolutely stop them from doing that, and I’m not willing to do that. You care about this landscape, so you don’t manage things one species at a time. We don’t want to just leave it to the ranchers to deal with that on their own. There are a lot of organizations and NGOs that are willing to help implement those non lethal measures because at the end of the day, ranchers and wolf advocates want the same thing. We all want clean air, clean spaces and healthy environment and ecosystem, and I think that wolves are a very key element into making that happen.