YOUR AD HERE »

A second suspected wolf pack is putting ranchers on edge in northwest Colorado

“There have been random sightings here and there, I don’t know how many are reliable,” one rancher near Meeker said.

Conrad Swanson
The Denver Post

MEEKER — Ranchers in yet another Colorado town say they’re preparing for more wolf attacks while state wildlife officials investigate the killings of 18 calves south of Meeker, possibly from the state’s newest pack.

Lenny Klinglesmith confirmed that his calves had been killed and that he wants his neighbors to be aware of the attacks so they could “reduce risk to their livestock.”

His calves were killed across several miles of White River National Forest lands over a period of about two weeks, Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesman Travis Duncan said on Friday. Their deaths bore signs of a wolf attack, though wildlife officials have yet to confirm that detail.



If wolves did kill the calves, Duncan said that likely means a second – and as of yet unconfirmed – pack is living in Colorado. The site of the killings sits a considerable distance away from North Park, where the state’s only confirmed pack lives.

Klinglesmith said he did not want to offer additional comment for this story but added that he’s looking for more evidence and information about what happened. He also sits on Colorado’s Stakeholders Advisory Group, one of two committees assigned to help wildlife officials reintroduce gray wolves into the wild after the narrow and contentious passage of Proposition 114 nearly two years ago.



Read more on DenverPost.com.


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

As a Summit Daily News reader, you make our work possible.

Summit Daily is embarking on a multiyear project to digitize its archives going back to 1989 and make them available to the public in partnership with the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. The full project is expected to cost about $165,000. All donations made in 2023 will go directly toward this project.

Every contribution, no matter the size, will make a difference.