Twenty-six Colorado agriculture and livestock organizations have sent a letter to British Columbia wildlife officials asking them to reconsider a decision to allow the export of wolves to Colorado.

Tim Ritschard, president of the Middle Park Stockgrowers, said other states and Native American Tribes within the United States have declined to allow Colorado to take wolves from their jurisdictions, and British Columbia should as well.

Ritchard explained that in refusing Colorado’s request for its wolves, the Wind River Inter-Tribal Council cited growing public opposition to the wolf introduction program in Colorado and the extremely close vote that started the program. The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation rescinded their agreement to provide wolves after learning that Colorado had failed to consult with the Southern Ute Indian Tribe about the proposed wolf introduction project. Idaho cited the strong disagreements over how wolves should be managed that have “fostered mistrust and social conflict among our rural communities, hunters, trappers, other outdoor recreation users, agricultural interests, wolf advocates, conservation organizations, and governmental entities.”

In a letter to Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the director of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game Idaho pointed to the high costs of the program including litigation and “less measurable …costs associated with unaccounted for livestock loss and increased production costs, and loss to rural economies due to decreased elk populations and hunting activity.”

Ritchard cited the number of Colorado wolves that have died and been removed in addition to elk and deer populations at multi-decade lows in the affected counties, as well as 24 confirmed depredations, a number in eight months that rivaled Montana’s total from 2023 with 70 times more wolves.

“We ask that British Columbia reconsider issuance of needed permits allowing Colorado to take your wolves for introduction in Colorado this winter,” Ritchard wrote. “Your deferral would benefit the wolves and avoid your becoming embroiled in this controversy.”