‘There is so much fear’: Wolf tracks spotted a mile from ranch in Moffat County

DENVER (KDVR) — A rancher in Moffat County found wolf tracks just a mile from home on Friday, all while Colorado Parks and Wildlife recently announced two collared wolves had traveled into the county.

“We found wolf tracks, and the reality is it’s about a mile from where we live,” said Jorgiea Raftopoulos, a third-generation rancher in northwest Colorado.

Raftopoulos showed pictures of the tracks and said they were heading south in the area. At first, it looked like one set, but they split into two sets before falling back in line. She believes the wolves were walking one in front of the other for a bit before splitting and then falling back into line.

“Then we saw them on the county road. They were heading up the county road,” Raftopoulos said. “When I saw the tracks, I didn’t register how big they were until I put my hands next to it.”

She is a rancher for both cattle and sheep. She worries the sheep can fall more vulnerable, even with multiple livestock guardian dogs and sheep herders.

“We haven’t even seen how they are going to impact sheep yet,” Raftopoulos said. “Sheep are much smaller and are louder, so they are kind of a primary target of prey.”

Colorado ranchers work to spook wolves from livestock

She said since Colorado voters approved wolf reintroduction, they knew they could eventually travel up to their area. But said she didn’t realize how quickly they would get there.

“We all knew it was coming, we just didn’t know how fast,” Raftopoulos said.

Now, she said she is working with ranchers in Idaho and other states who live among wolves to learn non-lethal ways to help keep the animals away. One is adding light-up and glow-in-the-dark tags to cattle and calves to help spook the wolves.

“This has a solar charging light pack,” Raftopoulos said, showing one of the tags. “It flashes lights, then we have glow tags. The whole point is to put some fear in the wolves so they don’t attack your livestock.”

But even with the tactics, Raftopoulos said she is worried about the unknowns with the wolves, like their different hunting types compared to other predators like bears and mountain lions.

“It’s not just a bear killing one calf to eat that night or the next day,” Raftpoulos said. “They are going out and slaughtering your animals to learn how to hunt, ’cause they are an easy prey target.”

She said since spotting the tracks, she is worried about what this means for the future of her livestock but also all the additional money they will have to spend for protection, and whether they’ll be compensated by the state when eventually there is a kill by a wolf on their property.

“I think producers are really worried about the state maintaining a fund to compensate for those losses,” Raftopoulos said.

CPW sent out the following about the two wolves moving into that area:

“Recent wolf collar data shows that two wolves have made some broad movements in the last week and indicates some wolves have recently moved from western Routt County into eastern Moffat County. It’s important to remember, location points are (at most) collected every four hours and data is downloaded every 16 hours. Wolves can and do move substantial distances between the four hours that points are collected, and the terrain and weather can impact when points are received. This data gives us an informed perspective of where wolves have been, but not where they are, and certainly not where they are going.

CPW continues to work with livestock producers to provide conflict-mitigation techniques, and will continue to conduct outreach/education in areas that are likely to have wolves. In addition to working directly with our agricultural community, CPW will be sharing a monthly map on our website the public can view to see where wolves have been in the past month. This map will be updated with new information on a monthly basis, produced on the fourth Wednesday of every month, and will reflect data for the prior month, give or take several days.”

Colorado Parks and Wildlife

“There is so much fear. It’s kind of terrifying to feel like you’re almost being watched … it’s terrifying to have that feeling of these apex predators around,” Raftopoulos said.