Colorado Wildlife Officials Relocate Reintroduced Wolves and Pups
Colorado wildlife officials are relocating two reintroduced wolves and their pups after a series of livestock depredations — a setback for the historic and controversial reintroduction program launched late last year.
The pack of wolves, known as the Copper Creek pack, will be captured from the wild in Grand County, Colorado Parks and Wildlife announced on Tuesday night. The agency did not disclose the relocation destination for the pack, citing the need to protect the wolves and CPW staff.
“The decision to capture and relocate the Copper Creek pack was made after careful consideration of multiple factors and feedback from various stakeholders,” said CPW Director Jeff Davis in a statement. “Our options in this unique case were very limited, and this action does not set a precedent for how CPW will address wolf-livestock conflicts in the future.
“The ultimate goal of the operation is to relocate the pack to another location while assessing the best options for them to continue contributing to the successful restoration of wolves in Colorado.”
The announcement comes shortly after the agency confirmed the birth of at least three wolf pups this spring, sharing a heartwarming video of the pups playing in a puddle. These pups are the first born to wolves released in December as part of a voter-mandated reintroduction program to bring back the predator species that had been extinct in Colorado for nearly a century.
CPW leaders will provide more details about the relocation once all the wolves have been captured, according to the statement.
Since the reintroduction, wolves have been responsible for killing or injuring at least nine sheep and 15 cattle, as confirmed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s list of depredations. Most of these incidents were caused by the paired wolves in Middle Park, forming the Copper Creek pack, said Reid DeWalt, CPW’s assistant director for the agency’s Aquatic, Terrestrial, and Natural Resources branch, during a recent Parks and Wildlife Commission meeting.
“While there have been a few other depredations from the other wolves, none have been as significant as those in Middle Park,” DeWalt stated.
DeWalt provided an update on the wolf reintroduction effort during the commission meeting but did not mention the plan to remove the wolves.
The agency still intends to release more wolves this winter, DeWalt confirmed. Although a Washington tribe rescinded its agreement to provide wolves, staff members are confident they can secure another source. The next batch of wolves will be released in the same northern zone used last year to bolster the wolf population in the area, DeWalt added.
CPW has hired five predator damage conflict specialists who will primarily focus on wolf-related issues while also addressing predations involving bears and mountain lions, according to DeWalt. These specialists, along with other CPW staff, underwent a two-week training program in Oregon and Idaho to learn about wolf management and strategies to prevent depredations.
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