With the Colorado wolf reintroduction initiative gaining momentum, it’s no surprise that scare tactics, such as those in a recent letter to the editor (“

Any of those false claims made in an effort to demonize wolves can be refuted, but I’ll pick just one: that wolves have caused the decline of moose in Wyoming.

Moose numbers have indeed been dropping across North America. Biologists don’t fully understand this trend, but they do point to habitat degradation along their southern range due to climate change. The significant factors include lower precipitation, decreased nutritional forage, an increase in parasites, forest fires, and prolonged hotter summers, which these cold-weather mammals are not equipped to tolerate.

Predation by grizzly bears, wolves and mountain lions plays an insignificant role.

In 2005, Joel Berger, a senior scientist with the Wildlife Conservation Society, told Wyoming wildlife commissioners that his study of moose in the Jackson area showed the decline is more due to problems with food and habitat than with predators. Of known mortality in adult moose, he found that 60% was “due to malnutrition.” Less than 2% could be attributed to wolves.

Wolves are not the boogeyman. They are a vital part of Colorado’s native wildlife heritage.

Likewise, wolf advocates are not “radical environmentalists,” as characterized by a local sheepman.

We are citizens from across the state who love wild Colorado.

We’d appreciate the same opportunity sheepmen and cattlemen have long enjoyed to shape public wildlife management goals.

Clint McKnightDurango