While the lawsuit will continue, Judge Regina Rodriguez’s ruling allows Colorado to proceed with its plan to find, capture and transport up to 10 wolves from Oregon starting on Sunday. They pointed to a state compensation programme that pays owners if their livestock are killed by wolves. Judge Rodriguez further argued that ranchers’ concerns did not outweigh the public interest in meeting the will of the people of Colorado, who voted for wolf reintroduction in a 2020 ballot initiative. Grey wolves were exterminated across most of the US by the 1930s under government-sponsored poisoning and trapping campaigns. They have also returned to numerous western states: Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Oregon, Washington and, most recently, California — following an earlier reintroduction effort that brought wolves from Canada to central Idaho and Yellowstone National Park in the 1990s.

Source: The Times December 16, 2023 14:58 UTC