(Bloomberg) -- For the first time in almost a century, wolves are once again calling Colorado home.
Officials from the Colorado Parks and Wildlife agency this week investigated an animal carcass that was discovered surrounded by large wolf-life tracks. The officials searched the area, heard the wolf’s distinct howls and then observed about six of them roughly 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from the carcass, the agency said in a statement Wednesday.
“This is a historic sighting,“ Governor Jared Polis said in the statement. “While lone wolves have visited our state periodically including last fall, this is very likely the first pack to call our state home since the 1930s.”
Colorado residents will vote on a ballot initiative in November that proposes an official wolf-restoration program. The measure was sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project. It has been opposed by ranchers and hunters. Wolves are now protected under the Endangered Species Act, and killing one can result in federal charges, including a $100,000 fine and a year in prison, the state parks agency said.
Gray wolves were eradicated from the state about 100 years ago after roaming the western U.S. in numbers as high as 2 million, according to the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project.
As European settlers moved west clearing land and eliminating bison herds, wolves turned to ranchers’ cattle and sheep for sustenance. Livestock owners lashed back, setting traps and shooting wolves. A controversial U.S. government predator-control program saw wolves killed on federal lands, including national parks, and by the early 20th century the animals were brought to near extinction in the lower 48 states, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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