Second Colorado wolf monitoring collar has gone offline

DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado Parks and Wildlife confirmed in a movement map update Wednesday that two of the 10 GPS collars placed on Colorado’s reintroduced wolves are nonfunctional.

The state released 10 wolves into Colorado in December 2023 with GPS tracking collars that send data on where they’ve been and when. One GPS collar failed in March, but a second one rendered partially functional in March has now failed, according to CPW.

However, CPW said the wolves wearing nonfunctional collars are traveling with animals wearing functional collars, which allows CPW to monitor all the reintroduced wolves.

There are nine reintroduced wolves still alive in Colorado after one was found dead on April 18 in Larimer County. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted a necropsy , which determined that the wolf died after it was likely attacked by a mountain lion.

The state said two other wolves have naturally migrated into the state from Wyoming. They are still alive, too.

However, there’s been at least one pup born from the reintroduced wolves this year. The two wolves and their pup were dubbed the “Copper Creek Pack.” Biologists are monitoring the rendezvous site for the pack in hopes of seeing more than one pup but still haven’t seen a second one.

The wolves have also largely remained in areas they were in before, according to CPW. The movement map shows the watersheds wolves have been tracked in during the past 29 days, and CPW said the animals have “stayed relatively in the same watershed areas as in June and May.”

One notable difference is that wolves have moved out of portions of northern Eagle County and also out of eastern portions of Grand County. There’s also less activity in Routt County and no activity in Moffat County. While portions of the watershed map are highlighted below Interstate 70, CPW said the wolves have not ventured south of I-70.

CPW also addressed social media rumors that it is using planes to “haze wolves from the border,” saying that while it uses planes to monitor wolves, there are no efforts to haze the wolves.

So far in July, three depredation events were reported to CPW. Wolf depredations occur when wolves attack or take a livestock producer’s animal for food, essentially stealing from the business, and it’s been the cause of concern for many ranchers and livestock producers in Jackson and Grand Counties.

Wolf depredations can leave livestock injured, if not dead. CPW told FOX31 that unless otherwise noted, the publicly available depredation list shows killed animals.

Livestock producers can file a claim with CPW to qualify for financial compensation, up to the fair market value of the animal. According to the information provided by CPW, the state has issued $26,407 in compensation for wolf depredations since December 2021. So far this year, just $1,514 was issued for a single claim filed. One other claim was filed but is still pending.

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