Editor:
The Glenwood Springs newspaper recently ran a story about the Garfield County Commissioners taking a stand against the reintroduction of wolves in Colorado and in support of wolf hunts. The county urged the wildlife commission to consider a wolf-hunting season as a population management tool once the numbers reach 150-200 animals:
“I think it’s imperative that people know that the three commissioners of Garfield County are very much against this wolf restoration and management plan,” Commissioner Mike Samson said during the Feb. 21 Board of County Commissioners meeting.
Last year, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert was recorded joking about shooting wolf pups to make "little hats" out of them. Probably with AR-15s, as she recently presented a bill to make the it the “national gun.” I’m sure the NRA check is in the mail. Boebert has been very vocal about her stand on the reintroduction of wolves to Colorado and the rest of the country. A big no!
For thousands of years, wolves and wildlife have had a symbiotic relationship. It wasn’t wolves that brought the buffalo to near extinction, it was humans. Wolves existed in the West way before cattle and sheep. Wolf bounties started in the mid-1600s.
There are an estimated 94 million cattle in the U.S. There are an estimated 5.2 million sheep. There are fewer than 6,000 wolves in the lower 48 states. Idaho hunters kill about 500 wolves each year.
Now for some wolf defense: Since 1900 there has not been a single human killed by a wolf in the lower 48 states. None. Between 2005 and 2017, 473 people were killed by dogs, 284 by pit bulls. According to the CDC: “About 30 to 50 people are killed by dogs each year. Children are the most common victims of dog bites.” More than 4.5 million people report being bitten by dogs each year in the United States.
Craig S. Chisesi
Rifle