A cow and a calf were killed by a wolf or wolves on a Grand County ranch earlier this month, Colorado Parks and Wildlife has confirmed.
The new depredations – added to CPW’s running list posted online by Monday – happened on Sept. 9, after the capture and relocation of the Copper Creek pack that had formed in Grand County.
The Copper Creek pack, the first to form since the voter-mandated reintroduction of wolves in Colorado last December, was believed to be responsible for a series of livestock depredations in the Middle Park area.
CPW had said on Sept. 10 that it was investigating a possible wolf killing in Grand County. Ranchers in the area had reported a cow and multiple calves they believed were killed by wolves.
“Even with the removal of the Copper Creek pack we still have wolves on the landscape that are depredating,” Tim Ritschard, the president of the Middle Park Stockgrowers, said at the time.
Ritschard said hunters had seen “four wolves running together near livestock and ranch headquarters” in Grand County. In a Q&A coincidentally held on Sept. 9, the same day as the most recent confirmed wolf kills, CPW had said no new packs had formed. Packs typically form in February.
Denver7 has reached out to CPW for more information about the Sept. 9 wolf kills and was awaiting a response.
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The Copper Creek pack was taken to an undisclosed location for evaluation. One adult male wolf in poor health died after the relocation effort – the second known wolf to die since the reintroduction. The first was killed by a mountain lion in April. A third was found dead on Sept. 10 in Grand County.
Colorado is still home to nine known adult wolves (seven remaining of the 10 reintroduced in December and two that made their way into the state naturally) and four pups.
Earlier this month, CPW announced it would begin the process of bringing as many as 15 wolves from British Columbia to Colorado in a second round of reintroductions this winter. The agreement with the Canadian province came after an initial agreement to bring wolves to Colorado from tribal lands in Washington fell through.
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