The burden of wolf control lands on our ranchers

I am a bleeding-heart liberal environmentalist who has hugged more than one tree in the 60- odd years that I have been a resident of Colorado. I have pretty much supported every environmental cause short of taking up arms, which I have owned aplenty, during my active hunting years. Like many transplanted residents of Colorado, I come from a farming or ranching background. I am guessing there are more of us than there are actual farmers and ranchers in Colorado. It is time we raised our voices for our rural neighbors.

While I support a more limited wolf introduction program, there does not seem to be enough protection for the livestock and human population of Grand and Jackson counties, which will suffer the most from livestock losses. The loss of one young purebred cow can result in six or eight less calves during her productive years. That is many thousands of dollars.

Back to my roots: When I was about 10 years old, I witnessed a pack of feral (for a day) dogs kill one of my dad’s hogs. My dad shot three or four of those dogs before the rest ran away. In 1943 that was a devastating loss to our poor family. Our county did not have leash laws and it was not uncommon to see a pack of town dogs roaming through our farming community. From that day forward, we shot every dog that crossed our property line.

We should not put the burden of wolf control on the ranching community of Grand and Jackson counties. Their welfare should come before wolves for every citizen of Colorado.

— Roy Legg, Highlands Ranch