Colorado governor vetoes bill to delay wolf reintroduction

Wolf reintroduction in Colorado is set to continue as planned after Gov. Jared Polis on Tuesday vetoed a bipartisan bill that could have delayed the process in an effort to ensure ranchers will be allowed to kill the animals if they attack their livestock.

Senate Bill 256 would have prevented the wolves’ reintroduction on the Western Slope until the federal government designated gray wolves as a “nonessential experimental population.” The designation would give ranchers more flexibility to lethally manage wolves, as opposed to only when they are threatening to human life.  

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service must complete what’s known as a 10(j) analysis to determine whether to give the wolves the designation. The state expects the designation to be granted…