Lawmakers look to pause Colorado wolf reintroduction program, slash funding
STATEWIDE, Colo. (KRDO) -- On Tuesday, lawmakers announced a bipartisan effort to halt Colorado's controversial wolf reintroduction program.
The bill hopes to allocate funding instead to "the health insurance affordability enterprise," offering cheaper health insurance premiums for Coloradans.
"I know personally that my constituents would like our state to focus on lowering health insurance costs, managing our budget challenges, and getting proper management of our existing wolves under control. Now is not the time to be spending precious taxpayer dollars on new wolves - let's focus on lowering costs for Coloradans and balancing our budget," said Senator Dylan Roberts in a release.
According to the bill, in budget year 2024-2025, the state spent $3,457,613 on the wolf reintroduction program.
The issue was originally brought to voters who passed the measure to reintroduce the wolves. According to the organization "Defenders of Wildlife," 1.5 million people voted to approve it.
“Sen. Roberts’ bill is a brazen attempt to overturn Coloradans’ vote to bring wolves back to their rightful home,” said Alli Henderson, southern Rockies director for the Center for Biological Diversity, in a press release. “This bill would gut the reintroduction program, squander years of work and funding, and violate the will of the people. Halting wolf reintroductions is anti-democratic and bad for Colorado. Lawmakers should defeat this bill.”
Colorado's program has long faced pushback from ranchers, who have concerns for their livestock's safety. There have even been concerns for the safety of the wolves themselves, as a handful of those reintroduced have died or been killed.
A portion of the funding for the program goes towards wolf depredation mitigation and response efforts. Livestock owners are eligible for compensation if their livestock die at the hands of a wolf, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife enacted a "Range Rider" program where crews haze wolves to scare them off a ranch.
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