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Ranchers in Colorado’s northwest are on edge as wildlife officials investigate suspected second wolf pack

Conrad Swanson The Denver Post
The gray wolf once inhabited every part of Colorado but was shot, trapped and poisoned until it was eradicated from the state by the 1940s.
Holly Kuchera/Stock image

Ranchers in yet another Colorado town say they’re preparing for more wolf attacks while state wildlife officials investigate the killings of 18 calves south of Meeker, possibly from the state’s newest pack.

Lenny Klinglesmith confirmed that his calves had been killed and that he wants his neighbors to be aware of the attacks so they could “reduce risk to their livestock.”

His calves were killed across several miles of White River National Forest lands over a period of about two weeks, Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesman Travis Duncan said on Friday. Their deaths bore signs of a wolf attack, though wildlife officials have yet to confirm that detail.



If wolves did kill the calves, Duncan said that likely means a second – and as of yet unconfirmed – pack is living in Colorado. The site of the killings sits a considerable distance away from North Park, where the state’s only confirmed pack lives.

Klinglesmith said he did not want to offer additional comment for this story but added that he’s looking for more evidence and information about what happened. He also sits on Colorado’s Stakeholders Advisory Group, one of two committees assigned to help wildlife officials reintroduce gray wolves into the wild after the narrow and contentious passage of Proposition 114 nearly two years ago.



Read the full story at DenverPost.com.


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