Undefined 10(j) rule leaves Colorado ranchers in limbo with 20 wolf attacks in 2 years
If you've been keeping up with the coverage on wolf reintroduction in Colorado, you already know Don Gittleson, the rancher near Walden who has been dealing with wolves coming after his livestock even before wolves were dropped in the state late last year.
Now that the new wolves are here, and the new rules too, Gittleson is looking for guidance from Colorado Parks and Wildlife as to how he can follow the rules while utilizing his rights recently published. The 10(j) rule (which we have extensively covered here) allows for lethal control of an experimental population of otherwise endangered animals (this is a simplification, but basically if the wolves make a habit of killing livestock, those wolves can be killed to stop the repeated bad behavior.)
Gittleson is now asking how much is enough to ensure he's legally allowed to try and kill the wolves who continue to come back to the ranch looking for an easy meal. He's calculated 20 depredations in the last 2 years in his county from the same wolves, 7 of those were on his property. He knows which wolves they are (not any of the new wolves dropped in Colorado from Oregon) and he believes what's happening in Jackson County should qualify for this 10(j) rule and lethal action.
The issue is, that the language of the amendment does not specify how many depredations in how short of a time period allows him to take action, and he believes that was intentional.
"Absolutely, because without that definition it is up to whoever's opinion on what is chronic and what is not chronic," Gittleson said. "Usually with that definition, there are two parts to it. One is the timeframe, other is confirmed depredations, like in other states, it's two confirmed in a 12-month period."
State Senator Dylan Roberts from District 8 is now getting involved trying to get answers from CPW after Gittleson was unsuccessful. He said CPW addressed the state senate and apologized for its lack of transparency.
"What we ask of them is some clarification as to what chronic depredation or what a chronic depredation animal is," Roberts said. "As of right now, that definition is not written down anywhere and is a fluid definition."
Gittleson said his answer from CPW was "Nothing is going to change."
Roberts has not received an answer to his question as of publication.
