CO Parks and Wildlife passes anti-wolf resolution

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 13, 2016

Contact: Catalina Tresky; ctresky@defenders.org, (202) 772-0253

Colorado Parks and Wildlife passes anti-wolf resolution

A damaging blow to Mexican gray wolf recovery

DENVER – Today, the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission passed a resolution that opposes the reintroduction of Mexican gray wolves statewide.

Jonathan Proctor, Defenders of Wildlife’s Rockies and Plains program director issued the following statement:

“The Commission’s endorsement of this anti-wolf resolution is a violation of the commission’s public trust responsibility to conserve all native wildlife for current and future generations. Rather than listening to the views of Coloradans and the best available science that has demonstrated that Colorado was once part of the historic range of the Mexican gray wolf, the commission caved to political pressure and hastily passed this resolution to support Governor Hickenlooper’s unfortunate letter to the U.S. Department of the Interior opposing Mexican gray wolf recovery in Colorado.

“Coloradans value healthy landscapes and healthy wildlife populations, including the important role of wolves in the environment. In fact, past polling shows that 70 percent of Coloradans support reintroducing wolves to our state.

“Colorado Parks and Wildlife has an important role to play in Mexican gray wolf recovery. They are at the table with Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to plan the future of this very rare wolf.  This political decision from the commission undermines options to save the Mexican gray wolf from extinction.”

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