The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission (CPWC) will consider a petition to impose a statewide ban on the sale of fur at their March 4-5 or May 6-7 meetings. If youre a Denver voter hearing about this petition for the first time, then you might be asking yourself, “t we already decided this issue?”

You would be right to ask that question, and the answer is yes. In 2024, 60% of Denverites rejected Initiated Ordinance 308, which attempted to ban the commercial sale of fur in the county. Animal rights activists have now introduced essentially the same proposal, only this time the ban would apply to the entire state. Unlike 308, animal rights groups are not trying to put this new ban in front of voters; instead, theyre hoping it wins a majority vote from the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission, which is comprised of just a handful of politically appointed officials.

Admittedly, voters in the Denver Metro Area are not representative of what the rest of Colorado has to say on wildlife management issues. In 2024, Denver was one of only six counties to vote in favor of Proposition 127, which sought to ban mountain lion and bobcat hunting in Colorado. The states remaining 58 counties went on to reject Prop. 127, resulting in the hunting bans 10-point defeat.

After reflecting on the results of Ordinance 308 in Denver and the statewide totals for Proposition 127, I find it extremely hard to believe that a majority of our communities — or any, for that matter — would support this latest attempt to ban fur sales across the state. Yet these results from 2024 did make one thing abundantly clear: Coloradans want our wildlife to be managed through science, not politics.

If the latest scientific research from wildlife biologists at Colorado Parks and Wildlife showed we should impose a statewide fur ban to promote healthy wildlife populations, then that would at least be a fair proposal rooted in science and expert opinion. But trying to shoehorn a ban through an 11-person vote, on a proposal that was already rejected by Colorados most populous and eco-conscious city, seems like a terrible approach to wildlife management.

If anything, this new attempt is even worse than its predecessors, as it would jeopardize science-based management practices at Colorado Parks and Wildlife while also doing irreparable damage to the agencys overall reputation. Just the prospect of this fur ban being passed by the commission raises an alarming question: Why bother employing actual wildlife experts and biologists when politically appointed officials can impose new regulations in the absence of scientific research?

Its clear the organization behind this latest fur ban is not interested in doing whats best for Colorados wildlife through the best available science. In fact, the full petition is severely lacking in the scientific evidence department. The petition is just a last-ditch attempt to impose a rule that none of our communities wanted through a commission that is in no way accountable to the public. State wildlife management decisions certainly shouldnt be approved by a majority vote, and voters made that abundantly clear in the 2024 General Election. We emphatically agreed that we should leave these decisions up to the wildlife management experts. Still, when voters have already rejected something, it should at least hold some weight among our bureaucratic officials, especially when no new evidence has come to light to support the proposal.

As an active voter who loves our state and its wildlife, my message to the commission is clear: initiating a statewide fur ban through a commission vote would do irreparable damage to the agencys reputation and establish a dangerous precedent that would impede future science-based wildlife management efforts. I strongly encourage the commissioners to stand with the majority of Colorado and vote against this new fur ban. I also encourage my fellow Coloradans to attend the CPW Commissions upcoming meetings to speak out against this latest attack on science-based wildlife management.

Luke Wiedel is a longtime Arvada resident and wildlife conservationist. He has previously worked with Coloradans for Responsible Wildlife Management and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.