Karin Vardaman thinks there are ways to prevent wolves from killing cattle in Colorado that don’t always involve lethal force. There is no perfect solution, she cautions.

“We do believe it doesn’t have to be one or the other,” she said.

Vardaman is the executive director of Working Circle, a group dedicated to mitigating livestock depredation from wolves in California, Oregon and Colorado. She said that the answer can come from observing and encouraging natural animal behavior.

Wolves are opportunistic predators, she says. Aware of their own vulnerability, they won’t try to take a confident prey animal standing in a group. They rely on the prey’s panic response, waiting until a herd scatters to reveal the sick or weak straggler. They use the environment to their advantage, boxing prey in against natural barriers or even fences.

When cattle behave like prey, wolves can see them as such. Vardaman and her organization believe that ranchers can teach cattle to withstand predator pressure. Instead of using deterrents against the wolves, Working Circle works with ranchers to develop ways to make cattle herds more resilient.

If wolves don’t find success, they might learn to move on.

“It’s not like they’re choosing them over other prey,” Vardaman said.

The solution is one of several that the organization has suggested, and it comes with many caveats. One main concern is making sure any risk-management plan does not create a burden on ranchers, who already operate on thin margins.

“It puts the control back in the ranchers’ hands,” she said.

Vardaman was a presenter at a Cheyenne Mountain Zoo event on Tuesday night that attempted to find common ground on an issue that seems intractable in Colorado. For two years, the implementation of a wolf reintroduction program approved by a slim majority of voters has fueled a heated urban-rural divide.

The program has seen setbacks related to livestock depredation on private ranchland. It is also exceeding its initial estimated cost by a factor of four. Twelve relocated wolves have died naturally or been lethally removed by wildlife officials.

Recently, the state hit a roadblock in implementing the next stage of reintroduction. U.S. Fish & Wildlife this fall limited Colorado Parks and Wildlife to seeking wolves from five U.S. states, none of which have yet allowed Colorado to relocate individuals.

Ray Aberle, a Private Lands Program Manager at CPW, told audience members that the state has a $1 million budget for mitigating conflict between humans and animals other than wolves. For wolves alone, the allocated amount is $2 million, though rules on damage claims differ.

He said that wolves have unique management issues that transcend Colorado’s recent woes.

“New for us as humans is challenging,” he said.

From the ranchers’ perspective came Lenny and Lori Ann Klinglesmith, a father and daughter who ranch in Northwest Colorado. Lenny said the reality of ranching with wolves on the landscape can be gruesome and emotionally taxing. He shared concerns about finding the “walking wounded” among cattle, who might be fatally injured but still alive.

Lori Ann said that no strategies for mitigating conflict are foolproof.

“There are things that are going to happen even if we do everything right,” she said.

Brian Kurzel, the Regional Executive Director of the National Wildlife Federation, said it was important to keep in mind the infancy of Colorado’s program. Wildlife managers, ranchers and the public have a lot more to learn about living with wolves.

“Wolf conservation is a social issue, not so much a biological issue,” he said.