The Denver Post's Wolf Pup Problem

When the facts become inconvenient, the image often tells a different story.

Brian C. Joondeph | June 22, 2026

One of the oldest rules of journalism is that photographs matter. A picture can shape a reader’s perception before he reads a single word of the story. Editors know this. Reporters know this. Political consultants certainly know this.

Which is why a recent Denver Post article about a Colorado rancher allegedly shooting a wolf after repeated livestock attacks caught my attention.

The headline concerned a wolf involved in livestock depredation. Yet accompanying the story was a photograph not of a mature predator, but of what appeared to be a wolf pup.

A baby wolf, dated 2025.

The image choice was revealing.

It can be viewed hered here.

No reasonable person believes a wolf pup was attacking cattle. The livestock attacks that have become increasingly common since Colorado’s wolf reintroduction program began are carried out by adult wolves. Adult wolves kill livestock because that is what wolves do. They are predators. They are not Disney characters. They are not plush toys. They are apex carnivores.

Yet readers were presented with an image carefully designed to evoke sympathy rather than reality.

That raises an obvious question: Why?

Colorado’s wolf reintroduction program was never primarily about wildlife management. It was a political project.

In 2020, Proposition 114 narrowly passed, mandating the reintroduction of gray wolves into Colorado. The measure was supported overwhelmingly along the Front Range, particularly in urban and suburban areas such as Denver and Boulder. Meanwhile, many of the people who actually make their living on the land — ranchers, farmers, and rural residents — opposed it.

The divide was predictable.

Many urban voters experience nature through documentaries, Instagram posts, and hiking trails. Ranchers experience nature........

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