My latest Wall Street Journal Op-ed
Conservation should begin with respect for nature, including an appreciation of animals’ natural instincts.
The Wall Street Journal published my op-ed today, June 15, titled “Jared Polis’s Wolves Are Moving In on Denver.” Since this piece is behind the paywall on the Journal’s website, I posted the full text below. By the way, this piece was inspired by information tipped to me via an email from a dear friend. If you have ideas or information you think I should write about, please feel free to email me, post in comment/chat in Substack, or even tag me on X.com. Thanks.
Jared Polis’s Wolves Are Moving In on Denver
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis recently signed a bill to reintroduce the vicious weasel known as the wolverine to the state. What could go wrong? Plenty, if Colorado’s recent experience reintroducing the gray wolf is anything to go by.
In 2020, Colorado voters narrowly passed a ballot initiative to reintroduce the gray wolf in designated areas in the state west of the Continental Divide. Most of the “yes” votes came from urban counties, including Denver and Boulder, while rural counties voted “no.” Opponents warned that wolves are dangerous to livestock, threaten tourism, and would eventually migrate east into the suburbs of such cities as Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs and Pueblo. Mr. Polis brushed off the warnings.
In December 2023, Colorado Parks and Wildlife released 10 wolves wearing Global Positioning System collars into the state. Mr. Polis pulled the kennel latch himself. It didn’t take long for the animals to show up where they weren’t wanted.
In January, a resident photographed a wolf wearing a GPS collar near his home in Kemmerling, roughly 80 miles outside Denver. In April, Colorado Parks and Wildlife released a map confirming that gray wolves had crossed the Continental Divide and were making forays into Larimer County, home to the heavily populated cities of Fort Collins and Loveland. Sooner or later, someone will get hurt.
Unfortunately, Mr. Polis and his allies haven’t learned their lesson and are charging ahead with their plan to reintroduce the wolverine—sometimes known as skunk bears, for their habit of marking territory with unpleasant-smelling bodily fluid. Wolverines are small, at most 40 pounds, but don’t let their size or their association with Hollywood heartthrob Hugh Jackman fool you. Wolverines are vicious killing machines. They have been known to destroy animals much bigger than they are, including black bears.
Although wolverines naturally prefer to live in snow-packed mountain habitats and aren’t known to attack humans, the idea of a Coloradan going on a camping trip or a hike in the woods and encountering a wolverine—aka Satan’s lap dog—should terrify Mr. Polis. A single incident could be politically deadly for the second-term Democrat with national ambitions. When a wolverine showed up near a Canadian high school in 2016, the school was locked down and the students let out only after it was determined that the skunk bear had departed.
Like gray wolves, Colorado’s wolverines have their own minds and won’t do what conservationists want them to. They’ll move where they believe they can find food. Colorado’s wolverines may quickly discover that trash cans full of food waste in neighborhoods on the east side of the Continental Divide are easy pickings. An all-you-can-eat buffet in the suburbs beats fending for yourself in the Rocky Mountains.
Many Coloradans share Gov. Polis’s love and concern for animal conservation, but conservation should begin with respect for nature, including an appreciation of animals’ natural instincts. Wolverines, like gray wolves, aren’t pets. They’re predators.
The West isn’t as wild as it once was. Suburban Coloradans, their children and pets don’t deserve to live in fear of carnivores lurking in driveways and gardens.
This was a good, insightful piece, Helen, thank you for your perspective on it. I think Polis and a lot of urbanists have a mindset that is all-too-common among individuals in positions of public power: they are convinced that they know best and will exercise their influence and leverage (and legislative/executive muscles) to implement policies that give off the signal of moral virtue to those who are just like them. I don’t think they care about the well-being of their constituents, especially those who think differently than they do, but rather, their overriding narcissism and sense of superiority almost mandates that they do such actions, and never admit error when they are proven wrong.
It’s an authoritarian impulse they have, which is why it’s of the utmost importance that we elect people who are committed to the agency and political/financial/religious freedom of others who they disagree with, not just those who agree with said prospective politician’s views. Polis and others in positions of elite status will never suffer from the consequences that you have described here, only those they consider beneath them, a sad state of affairs. Hopefully, this can be resolved in a manner which benefits the people who will be most adversely affected.
Hi Helen,
I remember many years ago reading about the interconnected relationship between healthy Aspen tree stands, elk ( that feed on Aspen shoots and bark), and wolves ( who feed on the elk). Reintroducing the gray wolf to keep elk numbers lower to save the Aspen trees sounds great on paper, but is not at all an easy thing to pull off without other unintended consequences occurring.
Getting the government involved in increasing wolverine numbers sounds like a really bad idea to me:). What could go wrong?
I liked reading your essay……..