Lauren Boebert slammed an "ill-advised" plan to reintroduce gray wolves to rural America.
Five wolves have been reintroduced to a remote area in Colorado's Rocky Mountains, despite concern from ranchers over potential attacks on their livestock. The Colorado congresswoman criticized the decision on X, formerly known as Twitter, calling it "bad" for the Centennial State.
"Today, Colorado becomes the first state in the country to reintroduce gray wolves, despite rural America heavily opposing this measure," she said yesterday. "This ill-advised decision puts ranchers and farmers' livestock at risk.
"Instead of caving to radical environmental groups, we should be listening to our ranchers and farmers when they say this is bad for Colorado."
In 2020, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife rule said gray wolves should be delisted as a protected species, but this was overturned by the U.S. District Court for Northern California in February last year.
Boebert backed the Trust the Science Act, passed by the House of Representatives in November, which proposed delisting wolves as an endangered species again.
The reintroduction effort was approved by voters in 2020 as part of a measure known as 'Proposition 114.' It was a narrow result, but passed 50.91 percent to 49.09 percent and allowed the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission to introduce the wolves in Grand County earlier this week.
It came after a judge denied a request for a delay brought by the Colorado Cattlemen's Association and The Gunnison County Stockgrowers' Association. Ranchers will be paid up to $15,000 for every animal preyed on by wolves.
Hunting groups are also anxious about the decision, arguing that game herds of species like elk will be lower.
Present at the release, Colorado Governor Jared Polis called the experimentation a "special moment."
According to the Associated Press, Polis said: "To see them in their natural habitat, and turn around look curiously at us... is really, really a special moment that I will treasure for my entire life."
The assistant director of aquatic, terrestrial and natural resources at Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Reid DeWalt, said in a statement, according to Colorado Newsline, that the wolf release "touched all corners of our agency."
He added: "This has been two years of work to approve the plan plus another year of work to secure our first source population and get us to this release day."
The reintroduction was made after gray wolves in Colorado were made nearly extinct due to being the target of hunters and ranchers. Advocates of the reintroduction argue that wolves are important for the local eco-system.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Benjamin Lynch is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is U.S. politics and national affairs and he ... Read more
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