March 31, 2022 |
A Wyoming wolf linked to a series of cattle depredations near Walden in the last few months traveled a long way before establishing her new home and a pack with six pups in Colorado.
Female 1084, as the wolf is known, was first collared five years ago near Teton National Park. Since before Christmas, three pregnant heifer cows, a calf and a cattle dog have been attacked and killed or left for dead on ranches around Walden. The first was reported on December 19th. Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials believe they are all victims of 1084’s pack.
Travis Duncan with CPW told Bigfoot 99 that six elk were found dead this winter in the area of one of the livestock depredations also were victims of the pack.
Pictured above: A female gray wolf known as F1084 from Wyoming’s Snake River pack. F1084 was first recorded in Jackson County in 2019 and originally labeled as male. F1084 has been traveling with M2101, collared in February by CPW, for several months. Photo courtesy CPW.
Female 1084 was the subject of mistaken identity after she showed up in 2019 in Colorado after a two-year trek from northwest Wyoming. Duncan said wildlife officials first thought the sleek, muscular, black and grey-colored wolf was a male after she arrived in Colorado. Her travel patterns with the other adult wolf, M2101, suggested denning behavior, leading wildlife officials to do more research into 1084’s origin story.
Her traveling partner was the subject of the famous collaring incident in February of 2021 that began in Colorado, detoured into Carbon County here in Wyoming, and traveled again south of the state line. CPW, interested in monitoring the mating pair, attempted to collar M2101 near Walden when things got wild.
M2101 headed back home to Walden where Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials discovered the den of six pups around that same time.
Duncan said no livestock have been attacked since the March 15th incident where the pack mauled a pregnant heifer and left her for dead. The rancher euthanized the cow after reporting the incident to wildlife officials. Duncan said ranchers have been taking more proactive steps to protect their herds, including stepped up patrol, guard animals and electric fences. Visual scare tactics, like flags on fences, as well as loud sound also are being used. CPW also delivered six wild burros to rancher Don Gittleson, whose operation was hit first and the hardest by the pack.
Duncan said CPW was tipped to idea of using wild burrows to mitigate livestock depredation by ranchers in Oregon. Colorado wildlife officials are hopeful the practice will work in Colorado.
In the meantime Colorado Parks and Wildlife will continue to try to meet a state law that put a deadline of reintroducing grey wolves in the state by December 31, 2023. Colorado’s plan was complicated by U.S. District Court ruling in February that vacated the U.S. Fish and Wildlife rule delisting grey wolves across the 48 states and returns their management to the Biden administration.
Related: Wolves kill another cow north of Walden
Related: USFW takes another step toward re-listing gray wolf in Wyoming
