Blue state ranchers thrown ‘to the wolves’ seek President Trump’s rescue
Editor's note: This story contains content some readers may find disturbing. It is the second story in a series about Colorado's wolf reintroduction efforts and the effects on agricultural producers. Read part one here.
GRAND COUNTY, Colo. — Splintered bone protruded above the intestines and other viscera spilling out of the cavity where the calf's hind leg had been torn away. Blood pooled, dark and mirror-like in the pit of the animal's remaining hindquarter. The front half of the calf looked untouched, its legs curled in a futile last effort to escape.
Across the field, dozens of cows huddled together, looking toward the tiny, mangled carcass. It was the fourth dead calf the Farrell family had discovered in the last 24 hours.
"We didn't have any idea what a wolf kill would look like until this point," rancher Conway Farrell said of the grisly find last April. "It's the sickest thing you ever seen."
Farrell and other ranchers on Colorado's Western Slope feel their way of life has been threatened after wildlife officials began a voter-mandated reintroduction of gray wolves in late 2023. Now, they're hoping the Trump administration will intervene on their behalf.
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Colorado wildlife officials released 10 wolves on public land west of the Continental Divide in December 2023. Livestock slayings began just a few months later.
Rob Edward of the Rocky Mountain Wolf Foundation, which spearheaded the ballot measure bringing wolves back, said that was to be expected.
"I would have been shocked if we hadn't seen at least a dozen or more cows and/or sheep taken by wolves out of that first year," Edward told Fox News Digital. "The sky isn't falling, right?"
In the Northern Rockies, where gray wolves were reintroduced 30 years ago, wolves kill less than 1% of the cattle they share land with. In general, wolves are responsible for less than half as many cattle deaths as dogs, according to USDA data.
"Even though that's the case, we know that an individual rancher losing livestock to wolves is a big deal," Edward said. "It hurts economically. And so that's why when we brought Proposition 114 to the ballot, we built in a compensation component."
The state is legally required to pay livestock owners for losses if their animals are injured or killed by wolves, up to $15,000 per animal.
But ranchers say it's not that straightforward. Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) biologists must first confirm that a wolf was responsible for an animal's death, called a "depredation." To do that, they need a body. One that's still in good shape.
"It's going to be really difficult, especially in the summer, to find a carcass in time," rancher Caitlyn Taussig said. "If you are not finding it within the first few hours, it's being scavenged or eaten by other animals to the point that it's impossible to know what happened."
In late December, ranchers in Grand County sent CPW a $582,000 bill for wolf kills and related losses. More than $420,000 of that came from a single ranch: Farrell's.
Compared to an average year, 65 extra calves never returned from the summer pastures. The ranch recorded nine extra missing cows and 14 sheep. Cattle were also 40 pounds lighter on average and conception rates dropped, which Farrell attributed to stress.
"All from a couple little packs of wolves," he said.
As of Feb. 1, Farrell said he had not received any compensation.
"I hope they pay for it," he said. "Otherwise we might not be in business in a year."
Asked about livestock claims, a CPW spokesperson directed Fox News Digital to a list of confirmed wolf depredations current through Sept. 9. The claim for the first calf killed on April 2, 2024, was still listed as "pending."
A pair of wolves that bred and formed the Copper Creek pack was responsible for the majority of livestock killings in the claims, according to ranchers.
The female and four pups were ultimately relocated in an effort to cut down on livestock depredations. The male died from a gunshot wound shortly after he was captured by wildlife authorities. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and wolf advocates are offering rewards for information on the shooting, since gray wolves are currently listed as endangered both federally and in Colorado.
Tim Ritschard unfolded the American flag and then plucked a zip tie from between his teeth, using it to secure the corner of Old Glory to the metal fence post. The biting January wind soon had both flags billowing, bookends for a huge white banner that read "Gov. Polis is throwing us to the wolves! President Trump, please help!"
"There's kind of a love-hate relationship between the president and our governor," said Ritschard, a fifth-generation rancher and president of the Middle Park Stockgrowers Association. "So I think that this is where we thought we could maybe get his help and get this out there."
Trump and the Colorado governor have sparred over subjects like tariffs and immigration, with then-candidate Trump calling Polis a "coward" and a "fraud" during a campaign trip to Aurora, Colorado. Polis, a Democrat, said ahead of Trump's inauguration that he would welcome the federal government's help removing criminals and gang members, but opposes deporting otherwise law-abiding illegal immigrants.
"A few [agricultural] producers have asked for the feds to step in already because [wolves] are a federally protected animal," Ritschard said. "And so we wanted the feds to come in and take over this."
All four of Colorado's Republican U.S. House members have criticized wolf reintroduction, and in mid-January urged the incoming Trump administration to stop the "further importation of these foreign predators into the United States." Two representatives are also seeking to remove the gray wolf from the federal endangered species list.
Ritschard spoke to Fox News Digital ahead of both the presidential inauguration and a pivotal local meeting: On Jan. 8, 2025, wildlife officials were set to decide whether to press pause on wolf reintroductions.
In late September, more than two dozen livestock and agricultural organizations petitioned the state to delay future wolf releases until depredations were addressed and conflicts with livestock could be mitigated.
After an hours-long meeting, the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission voted 10-1 to deny the petition.
Within 48 hours, CPW agents were in British Columbia. As a transport helicopter landed on the snow and the roar of the rotor faded, wildlife agents heard a chorus of wolves howling. The Canadian province has "an abundant gray wolf population" somewhere between 5,300 and 11,600, according to CPW.
CPW captured 15 wolves and released them on three separate days between Jan. 12 and 16 in Eagle and Pitkin counties. There are now 29 wolves in total in Colorado, including some that wandered into the state from Wyoming.
While Edward said he doesn't want individual ranchers to have to worry about making a living, he accused the livestock industry of fomenting a "sense of victimization and outrage" rather than embracing solutions.
"If they cooperate with the state agencies, there's plenty of resources to help them prevent future depredation. They just need to get in the game. It's that simple," he said. "They have a choice: They can fight, and they will lose ultimately, or they can adapt."
Ranchers Fox News Digital spoke with broadly supported using range riders as a way to protect herds from wolves. Range riders patrol rough terrain on horseback, foot or ATV, and can use non-lethal deterrents to scare wolves. In 2024, the state hired four range riders, local outlets reported. This year, CPW hopes to hire up to a dozen range riders, using money from sales of Colorado's wolf license plates, which had totaled $544,000 as of Nov. 1.
But Ritschard said other tools like fladry — bright flags hung along a fence line — are impractical.
"We have calving grounds that are 300 acres," Ritschard said while driving down a remote country road near his family's ranch. "We'd have to put three miles of fladry around the fence and that's going to be pretty tough to keep up."
Wolf reintroduction has taken an emotional toll on Taussig. She worries every day about the safety of her dogs and livestock. Even though she is ultimately raising animals for food, she said it's her passion to ensure they have "wonderful lives" and a quick, painless death.
The idea of her "sweet domestic cattle" being chased down by predators and eaten alive made her pause to wipe a tear from her eye.
"I think people think ranchers are really wealthy people, but we work brutally long hours with not a lot of pay, and it's a dangerous life," she finally said. "Then to turn around and have to worry about something new, it's just really hard to deal with."