Colorado Parks and Wildlife confirms a new, uncollared wolf traveled into Colorado
The wolf is not part of the state鈥檚 reintroduction efforts
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy photo
A new wolf has entered Colorado.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife confirmed on Thursday that at least one uncollared wolf that is not part of ongoing reintroduction efforts has been exploring northwest Moffat County.聽
After periodic reports and observations of a suspected wolf in the county, Colorado Parks and Wildlife confirmed the animal’s presence with a scat sample.
The agency reported in a newsletter on Thursday that the sample tested positive for wolf DNA. However, the DNA did not match the data on file for any of the reintroduced wolves in Colorado.
Travis Duncan, the statewide public information officer for Parks and Wildlife, said the agency does not know which state the wolf came from and how long it has been in Colorado.
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While Moffat County has not been a consistent hotspot for wolf activity, this is not the first wolf to have explored the area. One of the collared wolves brought to Colorado from Oregon was detected in the county in February last year.
The confirmation brings the total known number of wolves in Colorado to 30, two of which were not part of the state’s reintroduction efforts, according to Duncan.
“There is always the possibility of other wolves migrating in from other populations,” Duncan said. “As wolf population numbers grow it will be difficult to know a precise number of wolves in the state from each den, migrations from other states, and mortalities.”
With this growth, the agency will conduct and release a minimum count of the state’s wolf population each winter, Duncan added.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife released an additional 15 wolves from British Columbia and five wolves from the Copper Creek Pack in January.
The five pack members 鈥� including one adult female and four nearly 10-month-old pups 鈥� had been in captivity since late August, early September after the pack was tied to several livestock deaths in Grand County. Parks and Wildlife has reported that the pack’s adult male 鈥� who died just days after his capture from what the initial necropsy indicates was a gunshot wound 鈥� was known to be involved in the livestock killings last spring while the mother and pups were in the den.
Colorado’s wolf population also includes one uncollared pup from the Copper Creek Pack that was never captured, seven of the wolves brought from Oregon in December 2023, and one wolf that was in the state before reintroduction efforts began.
