GRAND COUNTY, Colo. — Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) confirmed on Thursday that a wolf or wolves were responsible for four cattle deaths this week in Grand County.
The wolf or wolves in the area at the time were among the 10 wolves that were reintroduced to Colorado in December 2023.
In a statement, Travis Duncan, public information officer with CPW, said that on Wednesday, the agency conducted a field investigation of a depredation incident in Grand County. They found that the injuries to three yearling cattle to be “consistent with wolf depredation.”
CPW confirmed that the depredation likely happened on Monday or Tuesday, when a snowstorm came through the area and covered the carcasses. They were found on Wednesday morning.
A fourth kill was found at the same property Thursday. A CPW investigation confirmed this was also a wolf depredation.
“The field investigation found injuries on one dead yearling cattle consistent with wolf depredation, including hemorrhaging and partially consumed hindquarters,” Duncan said.
Content Warning: The gallery below contains graphic images of the deceased calves. It may be difficult for some people to look at.
Wolves have killed five head of livestock this month in Grand County
CPW refused to say which wolves were involved in the attacks. The Middle Park Stockgrowers Association sent a letter asking CPW to kill the wolves that killed five head of livestock this month in Grand County.
"Our local Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers have been very cooperative and responsive," the letter reads. "The relationship between producers and CPW is critically important as we move forward in this process. We ask that CPW leadership demonstrate the same level of cooperation we have experienced at the local level and address our request as soon as possible."
CPW reimburses ranchers who apply for damages caused by wolves at fair market value of the animal, up to $15,000.
The recent depredations make six confirmed wolf-livestock deaths in 2024 so far. The first was a calf on April 2 in Grand County. CPW confirmed that the wolves or wolf involved in that death were from the reintroduced animals that came from Oregon.
On April 7, a calf was killed in Jackson County by a wolves or wolf. CPW confirmed that both reintroduced wolves and wolves from Wyoming that have been in North Park were in the area.
Tim Ritschard, a Grand County rancher and head of the Middle Park Stockgrowers Association, said he lives about three miles from the first depredation. He is also in the middle of the season where all of the calves on the ranch are being born. He said he would like to know where the wolves are traveling.
"It's uneasy not knowing where they're at," he said.
Ritschard is a fifth-generation rancher, and he and his family raise about 500 cattle near Kremmling. He said that while losing a calf to sickness or weather is not uncommon, what he has heard about the second depredation in Jackson County has him wanting to know where the wolves are and what they are doing.
"What's wild about that depredation is it never got ate — it just got killed," Ritschard said. "When you lose one because of a predator, it’s not good."
The ranchers who live in the area where the wolves were released in December keep one another up to date on sightings, Ritschard said. He also said many hoped CPW would be more transparent about where wolves are traveling and what they are doing.
"If they’re within two miles of here, maybe they should let us know," Ritschard said. "What I really hope, and what I’ve tried to push through to the heads (of CPW) is definition of activity. What do they consider an activity?"
In Colorado, wolves are named by number. CPW will not say which particular wolves were involved in these incidents.
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