There goes the neighborhood. Collared wolf spotted near Colo residence

There goes the neighborhood.

Just two weeks after 10 apex predators were released in Grand County, a resident photographed one of the collared wolves near his home and says he’s concerned about his pets and nearby livestock.

The sighting was reported by Rachel Gabel, assistant editor of The Fence Post, who was the target of a vicious smear by Gov. Polis’s husband on social media. In addition to his role as First Gentleman, Marlon Reis is an animal rights activist of some radical repute.

Todd Schmidt photographed the wolf Jan. 2 just a half mile from his home in Sweetwater, on a road that connects Highway 9 and 131.

Schmidt told The Fence Post:

“We have pets, and our neighbors are ranchers,” he said. “We don’t want them here. People who voted for them would think differently if it was at their house.”

Indeed. Folks aren’t as brave about signaling their virtue when the wolves are literally at the door.

Gabel is the same journalist who reported that several of the wolves relocated to Colorado had a history of attacks on family pets and livestock, which the Polis administration tried to kept secret.

Reis lashed back at Gabel with petty insults, but then disappeared his posts once the editorial board of The Denver Gazette called him out and backed Gabel’s reporting.

Reis’s influence over his governor spouse has spread into state business, which should alarm voters.

Like when Polis’s appointed one of Reis’s animal rights buddies, Ellen Kessler, to the state board of veterinary medicine in 2020.

Kessler attacked ranchers for failing to support the reintroduction of wolves, calling them nasty, among other names. The Gazette penned another editorial this week reminding Coloradans of Kessler’s arrest for (checks notes) animal cruelty.

Last summer, authorities arrested this anti-rural champion of animal life — the Colorado Coordinator for National Animal Rights Day — on 13 counts of animal cruelty. She was convicted under a plea deal.

Polis has made some foolhardy decisions during his two terms as governor, and dancing with wolves is fated to make history’s Top 10 List.