Ranchers operating near Aspen claim a well-known wolf pack repeatedly attacked their cattle over the last week, killing two calves and injuring at least one more.
In a press release sent Tuesday, the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association reported a series of attacks at the Lost Marbles Ranch and McCabe Ranch over Memorial Day weekend. Another wolf attack last Thursday killed one calf and injured another at the Crystal River Ranch, according to the trade association representing livestock operators.
Rachael Gonzales, a regional spokesperson for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, said in an emailed statement that wildlife officials are investigating the incidents in Pitkin County, but that CPW won’t have any further comment until the agency finishes its official investigation.
Ranchers suspect the wolves behind the attack were members of a pack known for killing livestock in Grand County last year. After the incidents, the state recaptured the Copper Creek Pack and kept the predators in captivity before re-releasing them last January. CPW also reintroduced another batch of 15 wolves in Pitkin and Eagle counties captured in British Columbia.
Tom Harrington, the manager of the Crystal River Ranch and the president of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association, told CPR News that the state put five members of the Copper Creek Pack in Pitkin County. Since then, he said the pack has settled near Snowmass and resumed its habit of preying on livestock.
He suspects a member of the group killed the six-week-old calf he discovered at the Crystal River Ranch on the morning of May 23. He said he found the carcass splayed out with its back pressed into the ground. “It was gutted, completely cleaned out like you would clean a fish,” Harrington said.
Harrington said livestock operators at the McCabe Ranch reported another dead calf and a missing calf the next day.
On May 25, the nearby Lost Marbles Ranch claimed three wolves entered a meadow where operators monitor cattle during the spring calving season. In broad daylight, Harrington said the predators attacked a cow and a calf before someone at the ranch shot at them, scaring them away from the property. Both the cow and calf were injured but survived, Harrington said.
The decision to capture and re-release the Copper Creek Pack has frustrated local livestock producers. Before the first round of reintroductions in December 2023, CPW released a wolf management plan advising against moving wolves with a history of attacking livestock, saying the strategy risked “translocating the problem along with the wolves.”
The state nevertheless chose to relocate the animals last year. After re-releasing the animals in January, CPW director Jeff Davis said the agency defied its own plan due to a “perfect storm” of circumstances.
The Copper Creek Pack represented the only example of reintroduced wolves successfully breeding in Colorado at the time. Davis said moving the animals offered a way to possibly bolster the state’s fledgling restoration effort while trying to protect livestock.
In January, CPW also adopted a definition of “chronic depredation,” which allows the state to consider killing a wolf if it kills or injures livestock three times within a month. Harrington said he believes members of the Copper Creek Pack could easily meet the standard.
“They're just gonna continue to prey on livestock. It's time to remove those wolves,” Harrington said.
Wolf advocates, however, say the state must complete its investigation before it kills any of the endangered predators. Until then, Rob Edward, the president of the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project, said ranchers should continue to operate knowing wolves are in the area and deploy any reasonable non-lethal measures to protect livestock.
“While that’s playing out, the agency can determine whether lethal removal is advisable,” Edward said.
