GRAND COUNTY, Colo. — All six wolves in Colorado's Copper Creek Pack have been captured per Colorado Parks and Wildlife's plan to relocate the pack after multiple depredations, and one of the animals, which was found in poor health, died after the capture.
CPW said the wolves — an adult male, an adult female and four pups — were all captured by Monday. This announcement came about two weeks after Denver7 reported that CPW had started an operation to catch and relocate the pack in Grand County due to multiple depredations. The adult wolves in this pack were reintroduced in December 2023.
”Our options in this unique case were very limited, and this action is by no means a precedent for how CPW will resolve wolf-livestock conflict moving forward," CPW Director Jeff Davis said on Aug. 27 about the relocation. "The ultimate goal of the operation is to relocate the pack to another location while we assess our best options for them to continue to contribute to the successful restoration of wolves in Colorado.”
Environment
Colorado wolf pack will be captured, relocated after depredations, CPW says
The pack was transported to a large, secure and undisclosed enclosure to be evaluated by CPW with limited human interaction. CPW biologists said they are confident no members of the pack were left behind.
During a media Q&A on Monday afternoon about the pack, Wolf Conservation Program Manager Eric Odell said the enclosure currently housing the wolves is not in a place near people, and CPW staff will briefly enter the area to provide roadkill, but will not normalize a human presence around the animals.
The adult female, captured on Aug. 25, was found in good condition. The four pups, which were caught over three days, were underweight, but otherwise healthy, CPW said. They are still dependent on adults for food and cannot hunt successfully on their own yet as they still have puppy teeth. August and September are typically the most difficult times of year for wolves to hunt, CPW noted.
The adult male wolf, captured on Aug. 29, was found with several injuries to his right hind leg that were unrelated to the capture, CPW said. Odell said the injuries did not appear to be the result of a kick from a prey animal, but likely an attack by another carnivore. His body weight was about 30% below when he was released in December 2023.
"CPW staff administered antibiotics in an effort to address infections from his injury," a CPW press release reads. "Four days after transport, CPW’s wolf team biologists received a mortality signal from 2309-OR’s collar and the animal was confirmed to be deceased. CPW staff believes that it was unlikely the wolf would have survived for very long in the wild. A full necropsy will be conducted."
The results from the necropsy — a procedure to identify an animal's cause of death — will take about 45 to 60 days to obtain.
This is the second reintroduced wolf to die since December. The first was found deceased in April after a likely mountain lion attack.
CPW Director Davis said if the adult male wolf had survived, CPW planned to move him to permanent captivity, as he was identified as the wolf involved in multiple depredations in Middle Park this past spring.
"Removing the male at that time, while he was the sole source of food and the female was denning, would likely have been fatal to the pups and counter to the restoration mandate," Davis said.
CPW said if the wolf pups can put on some weight while in the enclosure, they will be released once they reach an adult size and can hunt as a pack. Setting them free into the wild together will increase their survivability, Odell said. If CPW can re-release the adult female as well, she will be closely monitored.
Before any wolf releases happen, CPW will communicate with local elected officials and landowners. The release location will not be publicized.
“We will take the lessons we’ve learned here and apply them as we continue to build out a strong program alongside our federal and state partners, and both the wolf restoration advocacy and ranching communities," Davis said. "The more we’re able to listen to understand one another and increase cooperation, the better off we’ll all be in the long run. Our focus in this case now is on a healthy release of the remaining members of the Copper Creek pack."
Here is some background on the Copper Creek Pack from Denver7's previous reporting: The group of animals was first named in June, after CPW biologists confirmed a pair had reproduced and birthed at least one pup, which was spotted at a den site in Grand County. A wolf pack is established once a pair reproduces. The Copper Creek Pack is the first confirmed wolf pack in Colorado since the voter-mandated reintroduction in December. In August, three wolf pups were captured in a video — the first to be shared publicly.
Watch that full video below.
Wolf pup survival rates vary, but CPW said about half, or slightly more than half, of pups make it past one year. Wild wolves survive about three to four years in the wild, though captive ones can live beyond 10 years, CPW said.
To protect the animals, CPW did not share exact details of where the Copper Creek Pack was located, but confirmed they did live in the Middle Park area, where the majority of the depredations happened.
As of Monday afternoon, 24 animals — sheep, calves and cows — had been injured or killed by wolves since the December 2023 release. These incidents happened in Jackson County, Grand County and Routt County. The most recent involved eight sheep in Grand County on July 28.
Currently, Colorado is home to 10 known adult wolves — two that moved naturally to Colorado and eight that were introduced in December (originally 10, but one of the introduced wolves was killed by a mountain lion in April and a second in poor condition died shortly after recapture, as detailed above) — and four pups.
Davis said Colorado has a lot of single wolves on the landscape right now, as no other animals paired up during the 2023-2024 winter and no other packs formed. That typically happens in February, so CPW is hoping for some more pairings next year.
One benchmark of the short-term success of Colorado's wolf reintroduction effort includes the reintroduced wolves forming pairs and breeding.
A further goal is for those pups born in Colorado to go on and reproduce themselves within the state.
Read the full wolf restoration and management plan below or here.
Wolves typically breed in the late winter and give birth to four to six pups on average in the spring. They usually give birth in April at a den, where the pups spend their first couple months of life. This is the same time that wild ungulates, like deer and elk, also give birth, so adult wolves can go after easier prey. When the wolf pups reach about eight weeks, the adults will move the pups to something called "rendezvous areas," which are similar to dens, but are more of a general shape at a fixed location where the pups can grow up and interact with the rest of the pack. These rendezvous areas have access to water, cover and lack of disturbances.
The pup rearing period lasts until September.
If you see a wolf, CPW asks that you fill out its Wolf Sighting Form here, and include photos or video if possible.
Denver7 is committed to making a difference in our community by standing up for what's right, listening, lending a helping hand and following through on promises. See that work in action, in the videos above.
