The state will pay two Colorado ranching operations a combined $343,000 for livestock killed by wolves and other impacts from the apex predator — by far the largest compensation approved for wolf damage since the 2023 reintroduction of the species.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife will pay Farrell Livestock $287,407 and Bruchez and Sons $56,008. State law mandates that the wildlife agency compensate ranchers for the fair market value of livestock and guard animals killed by wolves, up to $15,000.
The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to approve the payments to the ranches.
“This is not somebody asking for a bonus or a dividend, but this is someone simply trying to stay in business,” said commission chair Dallas May, who is a rancher.
The payment to Farrell Livestock includes compensation for 15 livestock killed by wolves in the spring of 2024 as well as for lower conception rates and lower calf weights caused by the presence of wolves on the ranch, CPW Northwest Regional Manager Travis Black said.
The agency is still negotiating with the ranch over how much it will pay for missing cattle that the ranch owners said could be wolf kills they never found. The ranch owners submitted a $112,000 claim for those losses.
State lawmakers set aside $350,000 for the Wolf Depredation Compensation Fund in the most recent fiscal year and $175,000 for the year prior. Including the payments approved Wednesday, the state has paid $348,906 in wolf compensation claims since the reintroduction began.
CPW also reimburses landowners for damage to livestock, crops and property caused by big-game species, like bears, mountain lions and elk. In the 2023 fiscal year, the agency paid $403,602 for livestock killed or injured by predators other than wolves. It also paid $322,229 to farmers for crops damaged by wildlife like elk and deer.
While the big-game damage program is funded through hunting license sales, money for the wolf depredation compensation fund is sourced through the state’s general fund, the Species Conservation Trust Fund, and the Colorado Nongame Conservation and Wildlife Restoration Cash Fund.
Wolves in Colorado have killed 19 head of cattle, nine sheep and one llama since the reintroduction process began in December 2023, according to CPW. Wolves that migrated from Wyoming killed 13 head of cattle, three sheep and three dogs prior to the reintroduction.
Thirty known wolves currently roam Colorado — including 15 released by CPW in January and an uncollared wolf reported last month in Moffat County. Twenty-eight of the wolves are collared, CPW Wolf Conservation Program Manager Eric Odell told the commission Wednesday.
Some of the wolves are traveling in pairs and agency biologists will know by mid-April whether any of the wolves have bred, he said.
“We certainly expect for there to be some reproduction this year, but we don’t know,” Odell said.
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