Editor's Note: This is the third and final story in a series on Colorado's wolf reintroduction efforts and impact on farmers. read Part 1 and Part 2.
Grand County, Colorado — Merritt Linke pitched hay from behind a moving trailer as his tractor was covered across a frozen field. Approximately three dozen hungry Coriente cows followed behind.
He calls it “a wireless, autonomous solar energy harvesting unit.” The climate and soil in this region of Colorado makes growing crops difficult, but the sun grows plenty of grass. And unlike humans, cows can eat grass.
“There are areas that are not suitable for agriculture,” Linke said. “Animal agriculture is an important part of how we feed the world.”
Grand County commissioners and fourth generation ranchers are among many rural residents seeking to maintain their way of life in the face of growing urban interference. Several life ranchers told Fox News Digital that state officials are threatening their livelihoods by reintroducing gray wolves into the area.
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Grand County Commissioner Merritt Linke has 39 cattle on the ranch that has been with the family for four generations. But he and other lifelong farmers say their lifestyles are facing increased pressure from urban voters and politicians. (Hannah Ray Lambert/Fox News Digital)
“This feels like something is going on with the specific demographics of livestock raising people in western Colorado,” Linke said. “They have to deal with the negative implications of this.”
The wolf scale highlighted “rural and urban disparities,” the rancher says.
Colorado voters passed Proposition 114 in 2020, directing Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) to develop a plan to reintroduce wolves. The initiative was passed with a margin of 50.9% to 49.1%. This is primarily supported by Front Range County, including Cities Boulder, Denver and Colorado Springs.
Voters in rural areas where wolves are released were heavily opposed to the reintroduction of wolves.
“It's really tough because we've been mandated here on the western slopes by unaffected city voters,” says Caitlyn Tausig, a mother and cow sailor, on Fox News Digital. He spoke. “It really highlights the issue of rural and urban divisions.”
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Voters' support for Proposition 114 is strongly correlated with President Joe Biden's support, according to a 2022 survey Colorado State University. Voters in young cities also tended to further support the initiative, researchers found.
“They're high-tech people. They're people who work in the industry,” said 5th generation rancher Tim Littshard. “We rely on them. They rely on us. [but] I don't think people understand where their food comes from. ”
“City countries think their food comes from grocery stores. Well, it has to come from somewhere farm or ranch. When you go to Costco or a place, our family's beef You could be able to eat it.”
CPW released 25 wolves since December 2023. In April 2024, wildlife officials confirmed the first looting of livestock. A pair of wolves who settled near Kremling, Colorado, killed at least 18 sheep and cattle before they moved, local media reported.
The grey wolf will travel away from the Colorado release site on January 14th, 2025. (Colorado Parks and Wildlife)
And proposition 114 requires the state to pay ranchers up to $15,000 per animal for loss if a wolf kills or gets injured, but ranchers are Fox News He told digitally that it can be difficult, if not impossible, to prove that wolves are the cause of animal death.
“It's affecting all ranchers. It's affecting marriages. It's affecting family business,” he said, adding dozens of calves who have gone missing last year than the typical season last year. and Conway Farrell, who reported that sheep had reported. “There are no rooms in this condition for these animals.”
But Wolf's advocates accusing ranchers of easing their anger rather than working with wildlife officials to reduce livestock risk.
“If wolves weren't removed in the early 1900s, then there's no interview,” Rob Edward of the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project told Fox News Digital. “They become another carnivorous animal that everyone has found a way to deal with.”
Reintroduction drives wedges between landowners and wildlife agents
Four ranchers Fox News Digital said one of the worst casualties of the Colorado wolf reintroduction project was erosion of long-standing relationships with wildlife officials.
“Private ranch land is a very important wildlife habitat,” Tausig said.
Ranchers performed tasks such as CPW staff joining their property and collecting data on deer and elk populations, Ritschard said. Wildlife agents are just as part of the community as ranchers, he said.
“These people are the people we go to church together. Our kids go to school together and hang out,” he said. “The people we know and trust.”
Fifth generation rancher Tim Littshard will answer a call on January 6, 2025 regarding the reintroduction of wolves. (Hannah Ray Lambert/Fox News Digital)
However, the wolf release began in a private location, and according to the ranchers, its trust evaporated without heading towards the community.
Currently, the landowner has “closed the gate and has not allowed it [agents] Now on the premises,” Ritzschard said.
“Because it's a situation that's mandated us and is mandated by city voters,” Tausig said.
Meanwhile, CPW Deputy Director Reid Dewalt told lawmakers last month that his agency has been “a fairly heavily threatened” during the reintroduction process.
“We were tracked during the surgery. We have people ingrained in our offices. There were threats of violence through social media and phone calls,” Dewalt said. “It's a shame that it's happening there. I don't think CPW staff should be threatened by violence because they're at work.”
Tim Ritzshard and his father will eat cows on January 6, 2025 at a ranch in Grand County, Colorado. (Hannah Ray Lambert/Fox News Digital)
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Farrell has denounced many of the departments of Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, who was accused of “opposing state agriculture.”
Police Angry the rancher in 2021 When he declared the “meat-out” day, he encouraged omnivores to embrace a plant-based diet to help the environment.
Then, at a county meeting in December, Linke asked Police about the balloon cost (nearly $5 million) for reintroducing wolves. Police accused ranchers of increasing costs by putting pressure on nearby states to not give Colorado wolves and forcing CPW to source animals from Oregon and British Columbia.
“We had nothing to do with calling other states, so we don't know how they could blame us,” Ritzschard said.
Statements from Idaho and Wyoming officials also contradict Police's accusations, according to reports from The Colorado Sun.
Merritt Linke will open the horse gate before feeding the cow on January 6th, 2025. (Hannah Ray Lambert/Fox News Digital)
State officials continue to ignore them, but ranchers have sought help from the federal government. The group set up a giant flag on the side of the Grand County Highway in December, saying, “Governor Police will throw us at the wolves! President Trump, please help us!”
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The group took the first steps to eliminate the Colorado wolf reintroduction program on January 3rd. Measures may appear in the 2026 poll if you meet all the requirements, such as collecting sufficiently valid signatures.
Fox News Digital asked Edward about the January 6th decommissioning push. He said the measure was in “early stages.”
“It's a temperament tantrum due to a very fundamental subset of the agricultural industry,” he said. “They want to spend millions and spend that question on the vote, rather than helping fellow ranchers adapt to the presence of native carnivorous animals on the land again. ”
Ritzshard said he felt that “there are a bit of regret for the buyers” as voters saw the impact of the wolf reintroduction, but feared that the voting measures would be expensive and would be difficult to move forward. And it doesn't deal with the already freed wolves.
“what will you do [the wolves] he asked. “They will breed. They will take off now.”
The wolves run through snowy fields in British Columbia as the helicopter flies overhead during a capture operation. CPW moved 10 wolves from Oregon and 15 from Canada to Colorado between December 2023 and January 2025. (Colorado Parks and Wildlife)
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Edward said he is “very proud of Colorado,” and is a progression in the state's previous reintroduction. “It looks like there's a bunch of controversy,” he said.
“The fact is that people live with wolves in the US, Canada and elsewhere around the world, and they understand that,” he said. “There's a lot of room for us to work together to do this job.”
