Decision Prompts Massive Outrage by Ranchers and Rural Property Owners
Teller County Escapes Slew of Wolf Attacks, For Now
Trevor Phipps
When the controversial program was first proposed to voters that wolves be reintroduced to Colorado, many in the state’s livestock industries argued that this move would become devastating to their herds, especially if the if wild animals chose to attack animals like cattle and sheep.
And since wolves were reintroduced in 2023, following a voter-approved initiative, the state has been bombarded by cases involving wolves feasting upon livestock herds.
After several initial livestock depredations, Colorado’s Department of Parks and Wildlife (CPW) implemented many practices, as part of an attempt to deter wild wolves from attacking livestock. They tried relocating an entire pack and attempted to change the behavior of certain wolves, which had a history of chronic depredations. They also implemented a program to help livestock producers with hazing methods and providing range riders to keep wolves away.
Despite all of CPW’s efforts, livestock casualties kept occurring. CPW answered by then allowing for the euthanization of certain wolves experts considered having a history of chronic livestock depredations. Through this program, CPW has, in essence, killed five problem wolves since last April to address chronic depredations.
But now, this program, touted by ranchers as a good compromise but opposed by wolf and conservation advocates, has been given the boot. The potential fallout from this action is still brewing across the state with social media outlets getting flooded with those criticizing this action.
CPW recently issued a press release stating that they would temporarily halt the lethal removal of wolves due to chronic depredations. The press release cited fears for the diminishing population of wild wolves within the state as their reasoning. The main concern is that the state’s wolf population may not see any growth this biological year, which ends on March 31, 2027.
“Up to this point, CPW has carefully followed the adaptive management framework called for in the wolf plan, our chronic depredation directive, and has conducted the appropriate consultations in every action we have taken this season,” said CPW Director Laura Clellan. “Each decision to lethally remove a wolf is painstakingly evaluated and considered, and this option has only been pursued when all other viable options have been exhausted.”
Now, CPW will closely evaluate any future removals of wolves. If they receive any requests to lethally remove wolves due to chronic depredations from this point forward, the decision will be made on a case-by-case basing using a “very conservative approach.”
“CPW will work with stakeholders to revisit its chronic depredation directive and the conditions under which removals may take place,” the press release stated. “Those revisions will be in place by April 1, 2027, and the start of the new wolf biological year in coordination with the release of the Gray Wolf Annual Report. In the interim, CPW staff will continue to work diligently with producers to deploy all reasonable non-lethal tools and methods.”
Concerns Grow Surrounding Colorado’s Wild Wolf Population
In order to properly manage the state’s wolf populations, CPW conducts an annual mid-year population count. Some of the wolves are collared and accounted for, but pups who have been born in Colorado do not have tracking collars. CPW attempts to track wolf packs and estimates the number of pups born in the state each spring.
“Colorado is now home to four reproducing wolf packs, a fifth pack of four siblings that travel together, and several wolves that do not live in packs that could potentially pair this winter,” the CPW press release reported. “Wolf program staff have identified breeding adults, other adults (if present), yearlings, and pups born in each of the packs and have detected 45 gray wolves as of September 24, 2026. This count includes a high count of 20 pups born in Colorado this year.”
However, the current survival rate of wild wolves in the state has been the issue prompting the state’s recent decision. Last year, Colorado had a wolf pup survival rate of 82 percent, which is higher than the typical survival rate of 50-60 percent. But last year’s adult survival rate was only slated at 61 percent, which is lower than the 75 percent survival rate, which was more typical of an unharvested wolf population.
CPW officials remain concerned that due to the high number of lethal removals and other issues, this year’s wolf survival rate could become lower. “Additionally, CPW staff biologists and veterinarians are investigating evidence of hair loss in multiple wolves in two packs in Northwest Colorado, which could be associated with an infectious skin parasite and, if so, could impact wolf survival,” CPW said in the release.
Wild Wolves on the Move Southward
At the end of July and most of August, Colorado’s wild wolves were mostly staying put. For the most part, they like to den in the northwest part of the state. The August wolf activity map shows wolf movement around the Utah and Wyoming borders, but none of them seemed to travel south of Gunnison or east of Eagle County.
However, towards the end of August and into September the wolves headed south. The latest wolf activity map released by CPW that tracks wolf movement from Aug. 25 to Sept. 22 shows less wolf activity at the Wyoming border and more movements into the southwestern part of the state.
The state’s wild wolves are now roaming around areas like Montrose and Ouray Counties, according to the map. They have also been tracked in water sheds as far south as Archuleta County which borders New Mexico.
However, Teller County seems to remain safe. The wolf data shows that the animals have not traversed south of Leadville or east of Gunnison for the past two months. Teller has experienced some movements of wolves through parts of the area, but no cattle deaths have occurred, and no wolf deaths have been reported. Still, the subject of the wolf’s future in Colorado is a hot subject among state critics and the wild animal advocates, such as the founders of the Wolf and Wildlife Center, located in Divide. Proponents of the wolf reintroduction program cite the benefits to the ecosystem as the driving force behind the effort.
CPW publishes monthly Wolf Sightings and Activity Maps on the fourth Wednesday of each month to track the movements of collared gray wolves. Find a copy of the latest wolf activity map at cpw.state.co.us/wolf-sightings.
