This wolf debacle was never fair to the wolves. The argument one species, when put on a pedestal and not managed as part of the whole, would balance an ever-changing, living ecosystem is misguided. Ballot-box biology has led us to this moment and there isn’t a winner in sight.

Last December, the wolves were darted, bagged, tagged and taken away from the area and pack they were familiar with and dumped in a strange place and alone. They had to be scrappy. They had to learn an entirely new environment without the benefit of a pack. Seven of the wolves seem to have apparently found success in a new place, despite the lack of a voice they had in the decision. It was the makings of a Disney-type movie. Until it wasn’t.

Two of them depended upon what they knew and that turned into major conflicts with livestock producers. The social and political pressures tying the hands of the agency into inaction created wolves chronically depredating livestock. It was driven by emotion rather than science-based management and it led us to this moment.

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CPW has a challenging job ahead of them to dart and net — because trapping them is illegal, even by the agency — at least three young wolves and another adult who are all uncollared or the collar isn’t functioning. The female, who has played this game before, is collared but savvy to capture, having just been darted in December. The wolves were originally captured in winter, when leaves didn’t obstruct the view from the sky and snow could make blending in more difficult.

The Colorado Wolf Plan prohibits the relocation of wolves, saying, “the translocation of depredating wolves to a different part of the state will not be considered as this is viewed as translocating the problem along with the wolves.” The male wolf is believed to be 2309 and he was part of the Wenaha Pack in Oregon, a pack with confirmed depredations in September and October prior to the December capture and release. Ranchers can certainly confirm translocating wolves doesn’t solve the problem. The Wenaha Pack, according to Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, has not been confirmed as responsible for any depredations since 2309 was captured and brought to Colorado. It led us to this moment.

With no options to relocate the Copper Creek Pack in Colorado, and there being virtually no chance of another state wanting to accept (or even provide) depredating wolves, there are few options. Either the pups will be held with their parents until they are old enough to be released and survive with no hunting experience when they are older, or the entire pack will be placed in a sanctuary. Colorado regulations state: “No wildlife taken from the wild shall be possessed by any commercial wildlife park, noncommercial wildlife park or wildlife sanctuary in Colorado.” That takes Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center and The Wild Animal Refuge off the table. The Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance and Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, however, are exempt from those regulations. No Disney movie ends with five wolves pacing a zoo enclosure.

That leaves the wolves between a rock and a hard place. And CPW. And ranchers. If this relocation, with which a number of experts have expressed concern in various news outlets based on the poor success rates elsewhere, is not successful, CPW is likely to be blamed in the court of public opinion. This is, of course, after an agency that has repeatedly rejected the idea of the release of wolves had to make an about-face once voters dumped this in their proverbial laps and told them to make it happen. This is also after Gov. Jared Polis himself told them to waste no time getting paws on the ground. That led us to this moment.

Ranchers are likely to be blamed for not doing enough to stop attacks or not just turning a blind eye by people unfamiliar with what is and is not possible with livestock in the high country.

This is a clear picture of what happens when emotion is allowed to influence wildlife management. Ballot-box biology has led to this moment. Out-of-state money and emotion-driven marketing campaigns urging people to ignore science-based wildlife management, the hundreds of wildlife biologists on CPW staff and good sense and vote for the magic of the howl has led to this moment.

Rachel Gabel writes about agriculture and rural issues. She is assistant editor of The Fence Post Magazine, the region’s preeminent agriculture publication. Gabel is a daughter of the state’s oil and gas industry and a member of one of the state’s 12,000 cattle-raising families, and she has authored children’s books used in hundreds of classrooms to teach students about agriculture.