A relocated gray wolf stands outside of its crate for a brief moment at an undisclosed release site on Jan. 14, 2025. (Courtesy of CPW)
Colorado wildlife officials announced Sunday that they had released a total of 20 gray wolves into the wild over the past eight days, marking the second year of operations for the state’s voter-mandated reintroduction program.
The released wolves included 15 animals captured and relocated from the Canadian province of British Columbia, along with five members of the Copper Creek Pack, which had been held in captivity for months following a series of livestock killings that characterized the program’s turbulent first year.
“This binational effort was conducted by a professional team of experts from two jurisdictions,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife Director Jeff Davis said in a statement. “From the veterinarians and biologists to the helicopter pilots and wildlife officers, this team worked together to ensure a safe and successful outcome for this year’s capture and release efforts that also prioritized the health and safety of staff and animals.”
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The wolves were released in Pitkin and Eagle counties over the course of several days between Jan. 12 and 18. Details of the operations were kept under wraps, the agency said, because of the “security needs of our staff and the animals.”
“Unfortunately, staff safety was threatened as CPW offices were watched and threatening social media posts and phone calls were received,” said the agency’s press release, which also noted that two of the 10 wolves released in the program’s first year of operations have been illegally shot.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating the illegal killing of one wolf, an adult male known as 2309-OR, which belonged to the Copper Creek Pack. A second reintroduced wolf, known as 2307-OR, died in Grand County as a result of a fight with another wolf, but a USFWS necropsy also found the animal had an “old, healed gunshot wound to its rear leg.”
The Copper Creek Pack, consisting of the state’s first mating pair of reintroduced wolves, was rounded up by wildlife agents beginning in August, following the loss of at least 17 cattle and nine sheep in and around Grand County. Several days after its capture, 2309-OR died from what USFWS agents later identified as complications from a gunshot wound.
Colorado voters narrowly approved a ballot measure in 2020 mandating the reintroduction of gray wolves in the name of restoring ecological balance, along with measures to compensate ranchers for animals lost to wolf predation. But the controversy over the Copper Creek Pack fueled longstanding concerns from livestock producers about the losses they’ll incur as a result of the restoration. A formal petition to pause the program, filed by coalition of 26 livestock associations and other agricultural interest groups last year, was rejected by the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission earlier this month.
The pack’s adult female and four pups have been held in a secure location since September, and their release alongside the 15 wolves sourced from Canada gives them the “best chance for survival,” CPW officials said.
All the imported wolves were given veterinary care and vaccinations during relocation operations, and come from a large, established British Columbian wolf population estimated at between 5,300 to 11,600 animals. CPW officials said that the relocated wolves come from a region that doesn’t “overlap with areas where livestock are present,” which should help minimize the chance of chronic livestock predation in Colorado.
The state’s formal reintroduction plan, approved in 2023, calls for winter releases of 10 to 15 wolves annually in the program’s first three to five years, with an initial target of a stable population of at least 50 animals within the state.
“As restoration efforts continue, CPW is committed to working with livestock owners, communities, state agencies and all partners to reduce the likelihood of wolf-livestock conflict,” said Davis. “Our goal is to keep ranchers ranching, while at the same time restoring a healthy, sustainable population of gray wolves to Colorado as mandated.”
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