About two weeks ago, Mike Phillips, a Montana state senator and career wildlife biologist, received a single-page letter with two typed lines. “At least three wolves have been shot from the pack in Colorado,” it read. “Multiple agencies know and I thought you should know as well.” It was postmarked in Cheyenne and signed “anonymous.” Phillips immediately understood the political and biological implications. As Colorado sets to vote on wolf reintroduction, a likely pack in northwest Colorado has come to symbolize the possibility that gray wolves could recolonize the state on their own. Now, CPR News has now been able to confirm the basic claim of the letter. Multiple agencies are, in fact, aware three members of the group may have been killed, most likely in Wyoming. “It illustrates the fitful nature of restoration if you’re waiting on wolves wandering from the tough landscape of Wyoming,” said Phillips, who serves as a science adviser for the campaign behind the ballot initiative for Colorado wolf reintroduction. While that initiative has wide support according to one survey, the Colorado wolf pack has complicated the effort. Last winter, Colorado Parks and Wildlife announced six of the animals appeared to be living in the far northwest corner of the state. Lone wolves had wandered into Colorado before, but the new arrivals were the first evidence of a possible pack since humans eradicated the species in the 1940s. Ranchers and farmers against reintroduction immediately picked up the news. If wolves were already on their way back to Colorado, why should people go through the trouble of actively returning them?...MORE
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