Another wolf has died in Colorado – this one, a three-year-old breeding male that was brought to the state as part of the 2023 reintroduction initiative. The death occurred on January 28 and was announced today.

According to Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the death was that gray wolf 2305, a King Mountain Pack member, and it occurred during routine collaring operations in Routt County. Gray Wolf 2305 was brought to the state from Oregon.

Not much information has been released related to what resulted in the wolf’s death, with the results of a necropsy that took place at the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Health Lab in Fort Collins still pending. This test will help to reveal the cause of death and whether or not any underlying conditions were at play.

“All wildlife capture operations come with a risk and while we meticulously prepare and take every precaution to ensure a positive outcome, there is always the possibility, even if small, that the worst happens,” said Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) Acting Director Laura Clellan. “Our staff and contractors carefully followed CPW Animal Care and Use Committee (ACUC) guidelines during this operation, but when the animal was delivered to CPW staff in the field from the initial capture site, it was unresponsive. Our team initiated resuscitation efforts but determined the animal had died.”

The effort during which the wolf’s death occurred was successful in capturing and collaring one adult female and a pup from the King Mountain Pack. Previous summer counts indicated that four pups were born in this pack, with all four of those pups seen during the recent collaring operation.

“It’s not yet possible to understand the long term implications to the King Mountain Pack as a result of this mortality,” said CPW Wolf Conservation Program Manager Eric Odell. “We will continue to monitor this pack to evaluate their status and how they are contributing to the establishment of a self-sustaining wolf population in Colorado.”

The act of collaring Colorado’s wolves is crucial when it comes to monitoring packs, with Colorado Parks and Wildlife aiming to have at least two members of each pack collared.

“These sorts of capture efforts are a routine part of CPW’s wolf monitoring efforts and the program has had very successful capture operations up to this point,” said Clellan. “Operations like this are standard across a number of different species and are an important aspect of successful wildlife management in Colorado. We continue to be confident in the abilities of our staff who lead the processing side of these efforts as well as the contractors who conduct the captures.”

Three other packs are being monitored with the number of pups successfully recruited into the state’s population from the birthing season last year to be included in the agency’s annual wolf report due early summer.

According to reporting from the Denver Gazette, this is the 14th wolf to die in Colorado since the reintroduction started.

STAY INFORMED: Get free Colorado news with our daily newsletter (Click here)