Another reintroduced wolf dies | News

Agency director Jeff Davis said in a brief press release that Parks and Wildlife received a death signal from the GPS collar of a male wolf named 2307-OR on Monday. Agency officials confirmed Tuesday that the animal had died.

“While this is sad news, the expected mortality rate is taken into account when planning such recovery efforts. And as with all wildlife, some mortality rate in wolves is to be expected both during recovery efforts and in the long term,” Davis said in the release.

The press release did not mention a possible cause of death or the status of the investigation. However, because the gray wolf is a federally listed species under the Endangered Species Act, it states, “we are consulting directly with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding next steps.”

Parks and Wildlife received the wolf's death signal the same day it announced it had captured all members of a wolf pack in the Middle Park area of ​​Grand County, but the pack's male father had died on Sept. 3. He was severely underweight and had leg injuries unrelated to his capture. A necropsy is scheduled to be performed, but officials believe the injuries may have been caused by another carnivore.

At the beginning of the year, one of the ten reintroduced wolves was found dead. It apparently suffered injuries from an attack by a mountain lion.

Parks and Wildlife captured the Middle Park pack, known as the Copper Creek pack, after concerns about repeated attacks by the adult male on livestock in the area. Four pups and their mother are currently being held at an undisclosed location and Parks and Wildlife hopes to release them back into the wild in the coming months.

According to Parks and Wildlife, the most recent wolf death occurred in Grand County but is not linked to the Copper Creek pack.

The Summit Daily News reports that Parks and Wildlife is investigating a possible wolf attack on livestock in Grand County that may have occurred after the pack was relocated. Ranchers believe three calves were killed. The calves were found dead Monday morning. As of Thursday, Parks and Wildlife had not added the incident to its list of confirmed wolf attacks on livestock.

Parks and Wildlife brought 10 wolves from Oregon to Colorado in December as a first step toward reintroducing gray wolves to Colorado, as voters called for in a 2020 ballot. The organization hopes to release more wolves into the state this winter and is working to develop agreements with the places of origin.

There are also two wolves in Colorado that lived here before the reintroduction.

“It is horrifying to hear that another of Colorado's reintroduced wolves has died,” said Alli Henderson, Southern Rocky Mountains director at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a prepared statement. “With only six of the 10 wolves released in December remaining in the wild, it is critical that the Copper Creek pack be released again as soon as the pups are big enough. Wolves face daily threats to their survival, and we must release these wolves and more into the wild to ensure this historic effort continues to make progress.”