Mike Usalavage/Video courtesy
Colorado Parks and Wildlife announced Tuesday evening that an operation has begun to capture and relocate the Copper Creek wolf pack in Grand County, the pack that has been responsible for the majority of depredations since Colorado reintroduced gray wolves in December 2023.
“The decision to capture and relocate the Copper Creek pack was made after careful consideration of numerous factors and feedback from many different stakeholders,” wildlife agency director Jeff Davis said in a statement. “Our options in this unique case were very limited, and this action is by no means a precedent for how CPW will resolve wolf-livestock conflict in the future. The ultimate goal of the operation is to relocate the pack to another location while we evaluate our best options so they can continue to contribute to the successful recovery of wolves in Colorado.”
Colorado Parks and Wildlife will conduct the translocation efforts with support from federal partners and will follow U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rules for experimental populations..
Colorado Parks and Wildlife said in a statement that it would not disclose the location of the wolf pack or the operation “for the safety of these animals and personnel.”
“(Colorado Parks and Wildlife) will provide additional information and details once the operation is complete,” it concluded.
The Copper Creek pack in Grand County was the first and only confirmed pack of reintroduced wolves since a litter was confirmed in June. Up to three pups have been confirmed to be part of the pack.
The adult pair in the pack is the “main cause of the predation,” Reid Dewalt, deputy director of policy at Colorado Parks and Wildlife, told the commission last Friday..
“We’ve seen a few other raids by other wolves, but nothing on the scale we saw in Middle Park,” he said.
Since the wolves were released, wildlife authorities have confirmed that they have killed 15 cattle and nine sheep.
The decision to relocate the pack comes less than a month after the agency denied a permit for chronic depredation in the region. On July 31, Colorado Parks and Wildlife denied a permit for chronic depredation which was applied for in May by the Middle Park Stockgrowers. A predator permit would allow growers to protect their herds by killing wolves that are chronic or persistent predators. The permit would be issued for 45 days.
Before applying for the permit, the Middle Park group had sent numerous letters to Colorado Parks and Wildlife asking for help, including urging the agency to kill the two problem wolves or relocate them to a protected area.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife continues to care for the 11 wolves currently in the state and is preparing to release another 10 to 15 wolves this fall or winter as part of the reintroduction effort. Although the agency no longer has a source for the wolves, Last week, she announced that she would again release the new wolves in the northern zone of the state.
This story is evolving and will be updated.
