Estes Park let me remind you where you are located, on the border of a national park. We have wilderness all around us. This is not suburban Omaha, Ames Iowa or even Denver. The wilderness is our back yard.
Puma eat Annies, Bambies and Peter Rabbit every day. They jump on their backs and bite through their necks and start eating through the soft parts of the belly. Coyotes pick over the bones and regularly kill baby elk/deer. It happens inside the city limits of Estes Park every day.
There is an uproar concerning a "local" that illegally harbors one of our elk. How many times have you seen that spot on channel eight, "do not feed the wildlife"? What makes "locals" of Estes Park think they are above the laws of the State of Colorado? The mayor is going to write to the governor - to make something happen in the state wildlife division, good luck John you and the gov are big pals. That would be like someone in Estes Park going to a trustee meeting and expecting the mayor to get one of the town employees to do something, it will never happen. This is sad you screwed up and the elk is going to pay the price.
This summer a group of visitors from out of state were in the viewing area by sheep lakes and allowed their little powder puff pet dog to run free around the car, a coyote came along, snatched the dog and proceeded to eat it in front of everyone - right in the parking lot. It is not a zoo - coyotes have babies to feed too. Read the signs and know the law.
A couple of years after the park service reintroduced wolves into Yellowstone National Park, a pack invaded the national elk refuge and slaughtered dozens of elk right in front of a bunch of tourists. If I am not mistaken there are no wolf proof fences between Estes Park and RMNP. What a show wolves would provide on the golf course during the rut. Have you ever seen a wolf have at an elk calf? Where do hundreds of the park elk go in the fall / winter,,, Estes Park, wolves follow the herd - its natures way.
The fate of Annie was set by a human playing savior seven years ago and turned that fine wild animal into a circus act. No matter what the fate of Annie, it is nothing compared to what the park service has in store for her brethren. A herd of elk that have not smelled a wolf in one hundred generations - sounds fair to me.
The poor elk dodge cars all summer, flatlanders move to Estes Park plant flower beds and build eight foot fences to keep the elk from feeding where their family have grazed for generations.
Pass an ordinance that prohibits exclussion fencing in Estes Park, give the elk special status in Estes, come out against wolves in RMNP do something for all the elk, not just one illegal pet.
