CO: RANCHERS WORRIED ABOUT REINTRODUCTION OF WOLVES
<p><pi><b>**This package/segment contains third party material. Unless otherwise noted, this material may only be used within this package/segment.**</b></pi></p>\n<p></p>\n<p><pi><b>***Stations Please Note: This package is being delivered to you for use only in its entirety. This means that if you choose to run any of this package, you must run the entire package, including any standups or tags. You may not cut down, alter or pull clips from this package.***</b></pi></p>\n<p><pi /></p>\n<p><b>--SUPERS</b>--</p>\n<p>:52-:57</p>\n<p>Kelly Murphy</p>\n<p>Animal Care Supervisor, Colorado Wolf & Wildlife Center</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>2:32-2:36</p>\n<p>Don Gittleson</p>\n<p>Rancher</p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>--LEAD IN</b>--</p>\n<p>IT'S A SUCCESS STORY FOR CONSERVATION BUT NOT EVERYONE IS CELEBRATING.</p>\n<p>GRAY WOLVES ARE ONCE AGAIN ROAMING THE COLORADO ROCKIES AFTER THE SPECIES WAS REINTRODUCED TO THE WILDERNESS.</p>\n<p>BUT SOME RANCHERS ARE WORRIED ABOUT THE POTENTIAL IMPACT TO THEIR LIVESTOCK AND LIVELIHOODS.</p>\n<p>C-N-N'S LUCY KAFANOV HAS MORE.</p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>--REPORTER PKG-AS FOLLOWS</b>--</p>\n<p>Lucy Kafanov, Reporting: "You're not using this to hunt wolves."</p>\n<p>Don Gittleson, Rancher: "No ... It's just like a firecracker. A big firecracker."</p>\n<p>Kelly Murphy, Colorado Wolf & Wildlife Center: "Humans adapting with wolves is going to be the biggest obstacle that we're going to be dealing with."</p>\n<p>AFTER BEING NEARLY ERADICATED FROM COLORADO ABOUT 80 YEARS AGO, WOLVES ARE OFFICIALLY BACK IN THE STATE THANKS TO THE FIRST EVER VOTER-MANDATED REINTRODUCTION OF ENDANGERED WOLVES IN U-S HISTORY. </p>\n<p>THESE WOLVES CAPTURED IN OREGON WERE SET FREE IN COLORADO'S WILDERNESS LAST DECEMBER. </p>\n<p>Lucy Kafanov, Reporting: "You are hungry. I never thought I'd be able to get so close to a wolf."</p>\n<p>Kelly Murphy, Colorado Wolf & Wildlife Center: "She's a very special ambassador"</p>\n<p>KELLY MURPHY, THE ANIMAL CARE SUPERVISOR AT THE COLORADO WOLF AND WILDLIFE CENTER IS ONE OF THE ADVOCATES WHO HAS HELPED BRING WOLVES BACK TO THE STATE. </p>\n<p>Lucy Kafanov, Reporting: "Obviously, this is not an interaction we would ever have in the wild. Right?"</p>\n<p>Kelly Murphy, Colorado Wolf & Wildlife Center: "Absolutely. If you see a wolf in the wild, our advice is to take a picture and consider yourself lucky because it's probably never gonna happen again."</p>\n<p>SOME 2 MILLION GRAY WOLVES ONCE ROAMED FREELY THROUGHOUT NORTH AMERICA. </p>\n<p>BUT WHEN EUROPEAN SETTLERS ARRIVED, THEY BROUGHT THEIR OLD WORLD MYTHS AND HATRED OF WOLVES WITH THEM. </p>\n<p>BY THE 1940S, WOLVES WERE NEARLY WIPED OUT. </p>\n<p>Kelly Murphy, Colorado Wolf & Wildlife Center: "There are so many myths and misconceptions that are surrounding wolves. Sometimes it's difficult to understand that they're not exactly true."</p>\n<p>AS AN APEX PREDATOR AT THE TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN, THEY HELP KEEP CERTAIN ANIMAL POPULATIONS IN CHECK, WHICH IN TURN HELPS PLANTS, TREES AND OTHER WILDLIFE THRIVE. </p>\n<p>Kelly Murphy, Colorado Wolf & Wildlife Center: "They are critical to maintaining the balance of our ecosystems. And that means that it's a more productive landscape for ranchers to also graze their cattle."</p>\n<p>Lucy Kafanov, Reporting: "So what did the wolf do to this specific cow?"</p>\n<p>Don Gittleson, Rancher: "So he got a hold of her by the throat and then he got a hold of her by the hind leg. It's healed a lot."</p>\n<p>DON GITTLESON WAS FENDING OFF WOLF INCURSIONS ON HIS RANCH IN NORTHERN COLORADO LONG BEFORE THE BALLOT INITIATIVE.</p>\n<p>Don Gittleson, Rancher: "We had wolves here for several years."</p>\n<p>THEY'VE BEEN COMING FROM NEIGHBORING WYOMING WHICH REINTRODUCED WOLVES IN THE NINETIES.</p>\n<p>Don Gittleson, Rancher: "To me, this is my home to them. This is their home and they're not just gonna leave. See these marks in the snow, here?"</p>\n<p>Lucy Kafanov, Reporting: "Those are, those are the wolf tracks."</p>\n<p>Don Gittleson, Rancher: "That's the last time it came through in Colorado."</p>\n<p>THE WOLF REINTRODUCTION PROPOSITION BARELY PASSED WITH MOST OF THE VOTES IN FAVOR OF FREE INTRODUCTION COMING FROM URBAN AREAS LIKE DENVER AND BOULDER.</p>\n<p>Don Gittleson, Rancher: "People have very strong opinions about wolves and it doesn't matter what side they're on."</p>\n<p>BUT HERE IN RURAL COLORADO, THERE'S NO CONFUSING WHICH SIDE THEY'RE ON. </p>\n<p>THE STATE COMPENSATES RANCHERS FOR LIVESTOCK ATTACKS.</p>\n<p>BUT BECAUSE IT'S ILLEGAL TO HUNT WOLVES IN COLORADO, DON HAS HAD TO GET CREATIVE USING DONKEYS... </p>\n<p>Don Gittleson, Rancher: "They bite and they bite hard."</p>\n<p>...LONGHORNS, AND SHOOTING BLANKS. </p>\n<p>AS FOR FENCING...</p>\n<p>Lucy Kafanov, Reporting: "It's a pretty big place to put a fence around."</p>\n<p>Don Gittleson, Rancher: "Yeah, 8 foot chain link fence to keep the wolves out. I have moose, I have mule deer. I have elk and I have antelope that cross this country to migrate back and forth and I would absolutely stop them from doing that. And, I'm not willing to do that."</p>\n<p>Lucy Kafanov, Reporting: "You care about this landscape."</p>\n<p>Don Gittleson, Rancher: "Mm-hmm ... so you don't manage things, one species at a time."</p>\n<p>Kelly Murphy, Colorado Wolf & Wildlife Center: "We don't want to just leave it to the ranchers to deal with that on their own. There are a lot of organizations and N-G-Os that are willing to help implement those non-lethal measures; because at the end of the day, ranchers and wolf advocates want the same thing. We all want clean air, clean spaces and healthy environment and ecosystem. And I think that wolves are a very key element into making that happen." </p>\n<p><b>--TAG</b>--</p>\n<p>ACCORDING TO COLORADO PARKS AND WILDLIFE, THE GRAY WOLF IS PROTECTED BY THE FEDERAL ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT AS WELL AS STATE LAW.</p>\n<p>VIOLATORS CAN BE FINED UP TO 100-THOUSAND DOLLARS, SERVE JAIL TIME, AND LOSE HUNTING PRIVILEGES.</p>\n<p><b>-----END-----CNN.SCRIPT-----</b></p>\n<p></p>\n<p><b>--KEYWORD TAGS--</b></p>\n<p>COLORADO WOLVES REINTRODUCTION RANCHERS</p>\n<p><b>--MUSIC INFO---</b></p>\n<p></p>