The Holy Cross Cattlemen’s Association on Saturday asked Colorado Parks and Wildlife to issue a “chronic depredation” permit for the Copper Creek wolf pack that has been killing livestock in Pitkin County over the past two months.

The request comes just two days before the CPW commission is expected to discuss what to do about the Copper Creek pack in a special meeting scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Monday.

CPW staff killed one of the wolves, identified as #2405, in early June after determining it was responsible for killing livestock on three ranches in Pitkin County over Memorial Day weekend. At that time, CPW said removing the wolf would change the behavior of the rest of the pack, hoping that the other four wolves —the mother and three yearlings —would leave the cattle in the area alone.

That wasn’t the case.

The July 5 letter points out the history of the Copper Creek pack. It started with two wolves from Oregon, one of which came from a pack with a history of killing livestock.

In April 2024, the pair, released in Grand County, produced a litter of pups, followed by attacks on livestock by one or both of the mating pair. The attacks reached their zenith in July 2024, when 15 confirmed depredations took place on the ranch of Conway Farrell. In one night alone, wolves killed eight of his sheep, and 13 more went missing. All that CPW confirmed, the letter said.

Shortly after the July 28 attack, Farrell saw four wolf pups gnawing on the carcasses of the dead sheep. “…this evidence shows the wolf pups learned to depredate on livestock from their parents during this July 28, 2024, depredation,” the letter said.

Two days before the attack, CPW rejected a request from the Middle Park Stockgrowers for a chronic depredation permit.

On Sept. 9, CPW rounded up the pack and took them to a sanctuary. The male of the mating pair died shortly thereafter, likely from a gunshot wound.

Farrell and another rancher submitted more than $580,000 in claims for the killing of their livestock and the impact of wolves on birth and market rates for their cattle. That’s well above the state’s budget for wolf compensation, which is $350,000 per year.

In December, the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association requested that CPW keep the pack in its sanctuary and not release them back into the wild.

They cited the state wolf plan in that request, pointing out that the plan states wolves with a history of confirmed depredations on livestock would not be translocated to another part of the state, “as this is viewed as translocating the problem along with the wolves.”

Those pleas fell on deaf ears at CPW, which in late January released the remaining five wolves from the Copper Creek pack in Pitkin County, along with 15 wolves brought to Colorado from British Columbia.

It took less than two months for the wolves to start killing livestock in Pitkin County.

The pack’s first depredation occurred in Pitkin County on March 3, according to the letter.

Between May 17 and May 25, CPW confirmed four depredation events. On May 29, CPW staff killed wolf #2405, although several other wolves from the Copper Creek pack were seen during the attacks.

Despite CPW’s claim that removing #2405 would “change” the behavior of the rest of the pack, the pack has continued to kill livestock in Pitkin County. That includes cattle killed on June 2, June 3, and June 9. CPW did not confirm those attacks because there wasn’t enough left of the livestock to make that determination, although the rancher observed both wolf tracks and scat around the area where the livestock were killed.

Wolves continue to attack livestock in Pitkin County, despite CPW-hired range riders.

Ranchers Mike and Amanda Cerveny released a video of two wolves circling the cattle, attempting to separate a calf from its mother, which is now a nightly occurrence, the letter stated.

“…we see no end in sight,” the letter stated. “This depredating pack now has new pups, and if last year taught us anything, it is that these pups will learn to depredate from their veteran pack members. If these problem wolves are not addressed, they will continue to depredate; we will continue to lose more livestock; and CPW will be faced with an increasingly entrenched conflict, as pups learn to depredate on livestock and pack grows over time.”

The letter points out that under the commission’s rules, a chronic depredation permit “authorizes the holder to injure or kill a wolf in the permit area, regardless of whether they are in the act of attacking livestock or working dogs.”

That standard requires the permit applicant to show at least one wolf depredation within 30 days of requesting the permit, and that the applicant must utilize conflict minimization techniques before obtaining the permit.

Holy Cross producers have implemented those nonlethal deterrents and removed all “known attractants” (such as carcasses).

“The pack’s failure to change its behavior should not be surprising,” the letter stated. “This situation demands further action—anything less undermines the very framework CPW has established. CPW should either move the entire Copper Creek pack to a sanctuary or provide producers the tools to protect their livestock by issuing this Chronic Depredation Permit,” the letter stated.