Imagine the governor appoints Elmer Fudd, obsessed with shooting Bugs Bunny, to a Save the Rabbits Commission. It’s like that, but in reverse. Once again, Gov. Jared Polis appointed an animal rights guru to serve as the representative for hunters on the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission.

“It was a clear message from the governor’s office, hunters and anglers don’t matter,” said Grant Jerry, of Woodland Park, during a commission meeting Wednesday.

At issue is the governor’s appointment of Gary Skiba, best known for promoting wolf reintroduction in rural Colorado. He wrote a book on it and convinced urban residents to unleash the wolves on country folk.

An alarming trend has Colorado’s ruling political class contravening rural lifestyles and traditions. Maybe that’s because nearly all rural areas vote Republican, and urbanites elect Democrats. Whatever the rationale, it needs to stop. The state needs cities, villages, farms and ranches working together.

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Whether wolf reintroduction would genuinely obstruct hunting – by killing game – remains unknown. Skiba said so.

“The best information we have is from Yellowstone, and as people point out Yellowstone isn’t Colorado,” Skiba said, as quoted in a publication of Western Colorado University.

Yellowstone contains just over 1,000 residents. The density of Wyoming, with a population matching that of Colorado Springs, is 5.97 per square mile. Colorado contains 6 million people with a density of 56 per square mile. Skiba is right. It’s nothing like Yellowstone.

As reported by Colorado Politics reporter Marianne Goodland, Skiba belongs to Defenders of Wildlife. That organization’s mission says: “To engage in any arena to protect wildlife – Congress, the courts, federal and state agencies, academia and public debate … tirelessly and effectively.”

Skiba sued California for delisting gray wolves from that state’s endangered list. To go left of radical, one sues left-wing California.

Wolves, forced on rural Colorado by Skiba and the Front Range, burden residents who don’t need another threat to livestock, pets and more.

Polis, a Boulder native, is married to an animal rights activist who also grew up in Boulder. We appreciate this couple’s care and concern for animals, a passion they routinely post on social media.

Yet, Boulder and rural Colorado are separate worlds with starkly different approaches to animal and environmental protection.

Boulder hosts at least 60 organizations devoted to animal welfare that pump about $545 million into the economy. Boulder County commissioners and neighborhood organizations have a history of trying to outlaw hunting.

Rural Coloradans drive pickups, carry guns and hunt. They hold the stewardship of wildlife and the environment as high values because they need these ecosystems to support how they live.

Consider rural Brush on the Eastern Plains. As easily as one finds anti-hunting culture in Boulder, one finds businesses in Brush with names such as Access Firearms, Double Barrel Hunting Lodge, Narrows Mallard Duck Club, Indian Meadows Hunt Club and more.

Any day trip to Boulder and the boondocks confirms a general stereotype: In the governor’s hometown, sustenance comes from Whole Foods; in farm country, it comes from chickens, sheep, cattle and wildlife.

Past Polis appointments to the commission include an attorney for the anti-hunting WildEarth Guardians and a farm educator from Aspen.

In 2021, Polis appointed animal rights activist Ellen Kessler – a friend of the governor’s spouse – to the Colorado State Board of Veterinary Medicine. That appointment also drew objections from rural Colorado, where veterinary practices sometimes disturb animal rights activists.

Kessler supported a bill forbidding dog and cat sales at pet stores. After Independence Institute President Jon Caldara criticized her support of the measure, Kessler responded with a classy email to the institute.

“Jon Caldera (sic) … is a piece of sht… Yeah, pet stores need to stop selling puppies and kittens. And you need to shut your ignorant yap,” Kessler wrote.

Polis signed legislation that allowed him to appoint anti-fracking environmentalists to the Colorado Oil and Gas Commission, who now jeopardize rural oil and gas jobs. He changed the commission’s name to the Energy & Carbon Management Commission, which has more interest in restricting production than ensuring it.

In 2019, the governor annoyed farmers and ranchers by asking the Colorado Department of Agriculture to focus on meatless food options – in a state that relies on beef as the leading export. A crowd at the state fair booed him for doing so.

We don’t expect our Boulder-native-in-chief to understand or appreciate hunting or other key elements of country life. We expect earnest appointments that respect Colorado’s diverse population. Our governor should represent the entire state – including those regions where hunters eat what they shoot and vote Republican.

Denver Gazette Editorial Board