STOP THE STATE-SANCTIONED KILLING OF COLORADO’S WOLVES
Governor Jared Polis
Image: Copper Creek pack pups at play
Governor Polis: Keep Your Promise to the Wolves
The people of Colorado spoke clearly in 2020: we want wolves back. We voted to reintroduce wolves not just to restore balance to our ecosystems, but to right a historic wrong. We voted for a future where wildness is not exterminated, but respected. Where wolves can once again roam the land they evolved to live in—not as villains, but as vital, intelligent, deeply social beings.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) is preparing to again kill wolves from the Copper Creek Pack—wolves that were reintroduced by the state, only to be set up to fail.
These are not “problem wolves.” They are the victims of human failure. These wolves were released into a landscape where they were literally trained to associate food with livestock—not because of their nature, but because of our negligence. Open carcass pits, improperly managed by ranchers, were left accessible in wolf territory. Wolves—hungry, wild, and doing what evolution taught them to do—found food to feed their young pups. And now, CPW is preparing to enforce the letter of new "chronic depredation" rule while ignoring the context that makes it unjust.
This is not what the voters were promised. The reintroduction plan was never meant to be a trap—where wolves are set up to fail and then executed when they do. The Copper Creek situation is a failure of human stewardship, not wolf behavior. And to apply the rule allowing lethal control without regard to that failure is an abandonment of ethics, science, and public trust.
Governor Polis, we know you care deeply about the environment. We know you believe in science. And we believe you understand that this is about more than wolves—it’s about the kind of future Colorado is choosing to build.
The CPW plan allows for lethal control in extreme cases of depredation. But this was not an extreme case. This was preventable. It was foreseeable. And it was never what voters intended when they said “yes” to wolf reintroduction.
Killing the Copper Creek wolves would set a dangerous precedent: that when wildlife behaves according to the conditions we create, it can be destroyed for our convenience without any accountability.
- Call off the killing of the Copper Creek Pack immediately.
- Launch a full investigation into the role of livestock carcass disposal in wolf conditioning.
- Ensure that lethal control is only used as a true last resort.
- Hold livestock owners accountable for ignoring nonlethal tools or encouraging depredation through bad-faith practices.
Wolves Deserve Better. Colorado Deserves Better.
These wolves are not just numbers. They are families. They are part of the land. And they are symbols of our commitment to coexistence, not domination.
We voted for a better future. We demand you protect it.
Governor Polis—stand with the wolves. Stand with the people. Stand for wild Colorado.
Petition by
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Sponsored by
To:
Governor Jared Polis
From:
[Your Name]
Dear Governor Polis and Colorado Parks and Wildlife,
I am writing to urge you to immediately stop the planned killing of wolves from the Copper Creek Pack.
The people of Colorado voted in 2020 to restore wolves to our state—not to set them up for failure and destroy them when they behave predictably under human-manipulated conditions. These wolves were exposed to open livestock carcass pits, effectively conditioning them to associate livestock with food. In response, the pack's young pups were placed in captivity for months, during their critical hunting development stage. They were released without basic skills in hunting wild prey. They need time and rigorous nonlethal protection of livestock in their habitat to adjust to life in the wild.
This was a failure of human oversight—not wolf behavior.
Killing them now is not responsible wildlife management. It is scapegoating, and it undermines the scientific integrity, public trust, and ethical foundation of the reintroduction program.
I respectfully ask you to:
• Halt any lethal action against the Copper Creek wolves.
• Investigate the impact of carcass management on wolf behavior.
• Require the use of nonlethal deterrents by livestock operators.
• Ensure lethal control is only a last resort after nonlethal measures are first adequately and proactively exhausted.
I vote for coexistence. Please honor your promise. Colorado can and should do better than other states - not worse. It's time to reset the wolf program.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[City, State]