Other reintroduced wolves found near Denver, Boulder and Estes Park
Another gray wolf from Colorado’s reintroduction effort is dead. The female wolf, which was reported dead on April 20, was found in Rocky Mountain National Park, according to The Colorado Sun. The cause is unclear as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service still needs to complete a necropsy. While the wolf reintroduction effort has been considered successful, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) officials said that “some wolf deaths are expected” and should be considered “normal.”
Following the recent wolf death, state wildlife officials published an updated monthly gray wolf movement tracker, which showed another reintroduced female wolf’s journey of more than 1,230 miles after its January release in Pitkin and Eagle counties. Wolf movement is spreading across the state with some wolves even showing up in “watersheds west of major population centers like Denver, Boulder and Estes Park,” according to The Colorado Sun.
“Wolves can and do travel long distances,” said Brenna Cassidy, CPW’s wolf monitoring and data coordinator. “It simply shows that a GPS-collared wolf moved through a watershed that encompasses areas of wilderness and the city, often very quickly.”
According to the latest tracking report, which was delayed in order to protect wolves during mating season, wolves are considered “habitat generalists, meaning they can thrive in many environments as long as prey is present.”
Should any of Colorado’s collared reintroduced wolves venture into Utah, New Mexico or Arizona, Colorado already has agreements in place that the states will return the wolves after capture. This is mainly to protect the “genetic integrity” of the Mexican gray wolf, which is a rare subspecies of wolves only found in Arizona and New Mexico, and federally protected.
Wyoming is not part of that specific capture/return agreement and, since Colorado reintroduced wolves, two of them have died in Wyoming, according to The Colorado Sun. One was killed by federal agents following sheep depredation; the other was found dead on April 9 with no further details released.
