How wolf reintroduction is supposed to go — and how it’s going
Wildlife biologists have developed a three-phase approach to restore the wolf population that has been absent from Colorado since the 1940s
Courtesy Jessica Freeman, CPW
WESTCLIFFE — Kent Weber entered the enclosure with his gaze averted from the 112-pound, 2½-foot-tall animal. He walked confidently toward a log and took a seat. The creature appeared excited to see him and Weber was careful to stay calm. Then he and the wolf met eyes and he smiled as if greeting an old friend.
“I never thought I would see the day that we’d have wolves in Colorado,” said Weber, the executive director and co-founder of Mission: Wolf, a nature center that provides sanctuary for captive-born wolves and horses in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains not far from Westcliffe.
Though Weber has spent the past 35 years protecting and getting to know wolves, his respect for them and other large predators began early in his childhood when he lived near Yellowstone National Park. He understood at a very young age that the wild does not operate by human rules and it was his job to keep himself safe.
“When I came across a wolf in a cage, I was like you gotta be kidding me — let’s turn it loose,” Weber said.
But with a little research, he learned that it was not possible to let a captive wolf back into the wild.Weber believes “a wolf born in a cage is trapped in a cage. It’s like they’re imprinted — and that seems really sad,” he added. So in 1988, he decided to create a space where wolves and wolf-dog hybrids, all captive born, could live outside a cage, in a suitable home. This led to the creation of Mission: Wolf, a sanctuary with room for as many as 20 animals at a time to live in half-acre enclosures, fed with dead livestock and horses donated by supporters.
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