Colo. Rev. Stat. § 35-43-117
Any person who brands or marks, or causes to be branded or marked, any animal which is the property of another with his brand or any brand which is not the recorded brand of the owner or effaces, defaces, or obliterates any brand or mark upon any animal is guilty of theft and, upon conviction thereof, shall be liable to the owner thereof for three times the value of the animal so branded or marked or upon which the brand or mark has been effaced, defaced, or obliterated. Payment of the forfeiture provided in this section shall not entitle the person so branding, effacing, defacing, or obliterating a brand to the property right in the animal so branded or upon which the brand was effaced, defaced, or obliterated, but such animal shall be surrendered to the proper owner.
C.R.S. § 35-43-117