Wolf in Jackson County meets three Livestock Guardian Dogs

March 28, 2025 Shannon Lukens

By Shannon Lukens. Courtesy photos.

Here’s an update on the wolf that has visited a Jackson County rancher for 12 nights in a row, that we reported about on Thursday, March 27.

Make that 13 nights in a row.

The wolf came back Thursday night, March 27. Four Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers were ready and waiting, according to the rancher. At around 11:30 p.m. the wolf came in from the southwest. That’s when the rancher’s three livestock guardian dogs attacked the wolf. He has two Akbash Pyrenees and one Kangal Shepherd dog.

He says the wildlife officers, and one ranch hand all heard the fighting and they said the wolf “was squealing.” He says one CPW agent shot the wolf with a bean bag round, and the wolf ran off.

The producer says, “the dogs definitely did their job.”

The producer appreciates that the CPW agents were out the past two nights on his property to help haze the wolf away from his sheep and cattle. He is very grateful. He is also concerned the wolf will be back.

He is adamant that the CPW agents know that he is on their side, when it comes to the local agents out there doing their job. He says they were at his property two nights in a row, staying until 2 a.m. Friday morning. He said they also had drones flying overhead with lights, to haze the wolf off from his sheep and cattle. He added that he is very pleased with their effort, and appreciative.

Questions also came up on social media about if the rancher has a carcass pit, and where it is. This rancher does not have one. He buries all livestock or animal carcasses, because of the wolves. Any carcasses are buried about three miles away from their house and their pen and corrals, which is where the wolf has been showing up nightly.

We have reached out to Colorado Parks and Wildlife and will update this story if more information becomes available.

UPDATE: Friday afternoon response from Rachael Gonzales, Northwest Region Public Information Officer for Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

CPW is committed to working with the producer and other producers across the state when wolves are spending time in an area, and appreciate the collaboration. CPW worked closely with the producer last night to deploy non-lethal wolf-livestock conflict minimization measures to encourage the wolf to move on and reduce the potential of wolf-livestock conflict. This includes utilizing non-lethal tools, such as non-lethal bean bag rounds, drones, and talking with loud voices as they moved around the property throughout the late night and early morning hours. The goal of this non-lethal tactic, like with any other predator, is to make the animal uncomfortable and encourage it to move on to a more suitable location where a natural prey source is available. As I mentioned yesterday, in some cases, this may take several days of hazing to accomplish.

At this point, local staff are not planning to go out this evening. However, that could change. Again, CPW is committed to working with the producer and other producers across the state when wolves are spending time in an area. This includes working to identify and deploy deterrence measures through site assessments. We understand that no one solution will fit all, and we are grateful for the collaboration with the North Park producer who is keeping us informed when wolves are present and is willing to try multiple non-lethal tools to encourage the wolf or wolves to move on before conflict happens.