Colorado Initiative 107 Supports Reintroducing Endangered Gray Wolves - National Humane Education Society

Paws Up!
May 14, 2020

To the Rocky Mountain Wolf Action Fund for proposing Colorado’s Initiative 107 that will help repopulate the endangered gray wolf.

The gray wolf, also known as the timber wolf, has been non-existent in Colorado since the 1940s. How did these magnificent, apex predators become absent? Sadly, humans are the reason. Due to the depletion of their primary food source by hunters, the wolves started feeding on livestock. This action resulted in their decimation at the hands of ranchers. Thanks to the Endangered Species Act (ESA), signed in 1973, gray wolves were added to the list in 1978 to aid in their protection by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In 1994, a program to help repopulate the species was approved to be performed in Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho. They have had positive results, and at the beginning of 2020, the Colorado Parks and Wildlife confirmed the sighting of a small wolf pack in the northeastern part of the state. In order to help bring the gray wolf back to Colorado, Initiative 107 will be on the voting ballot this year. Colorado residents will be allowed to vote for a reintroduction program within the state. This program will be implemented on “designated lands to the west of the continental divide.” This program has proven effective and hopes to remove the gray wolf from the endangered species list.

Take Action: Colorado residents, if you agree that the gray wolf should be given the chance to repopulate and once again be a part of this great state, please vote YES to Initiative 107!