GRAND COUNTY, Colo. — A necropsy found that a reintroduced wolf, which had died shortly after it was captured as part of the Copper Creek Pack relocation effort, had a gunshot wound, which led to its death. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) says this is an "illegal killing," as gray wolves in Colorado are protected by the Endangered Species Act, and it is illegal to kill them without federal authorization.
The USFWS Office of Law Enforcement is the lead investigative agency for illegal wolf kills in Colorado, and the service is offering a monetary reward for information.
The recently finalized necropsy found that the wolf — an adult male known as 2309-OR — had a gunshot wound that ultimately led to its death, USFWS said.
"The illegal take of wolves will be expeditiously and thoroughly investigated," Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan, which was approved in May 2023, reads.
The wolf had been captured, along with five others, in Grand County as part of the Copper Creek Pack capture and relocation effort, which began in August, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW). The announcement of the successful capture came about two weeks after Denver7 reported that CPW had started the operation, which was spurred by multiple livestock depredations in the area.
While the other wolves were found in good condition, the adult male had several injuries to his right hind leg that were unrelated to the capture, CPW said in September. His body weight was about 30% below when he was released in December 2023.
All of the captured wolves were transported to a large, secure and undisclosed enclosure where they have been evaluated by CPW with limited human interaction. CPW administered antibiotics to the injured male wolf, but four days after he was transported, CPW's wolf biologists saw his collar had issued a mortality signal. They then confirmed it had died on Sept. 3.
Watch Denver7's report from September about the capture of the Copper Creek Pack.
"CPW staff believes that it was unlikely the wolf would have survived for very long in the wild," CPW's September press release read. "A full necropsy will be conducted."
This was the second death among Colorado's wolves that were reintroduced in December 2023. The first was found deceased in April after a likely mountain lion attack. And shortly after the second wolf's death, staff received a mortality signal from another reintroduced wolf's GPS collar on Sept. 9 and confirmed it had died on Sept. 10, marking three deaths.
CPW has said that three of the 10 reintroduced wolves dying in one year is not cause for alarm and is in line with typical wolf survival.
Anybody with information on the illegal wolf kill is asked to contact USFWS's wildlife crime hotline by calling 1-844-FWS-TIPS (397-8477), emailing FWS_TIPS@fws.gov, or filling out the form at www.fws.gov/wildlife-crime-tips.
The Rocky Mountain Wolf Project said Thursday that it will pay a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of anybody connected with killing a wolf in Colorado, something that it has stressed since the beginning of the wolf reintroduction. Plus, the Center for Biological Diversity — the conservation partner of the USFWS — is offering a $15,000 reward, for a combined reward of $65,000 between the two groups.
As written in the state's wolf management plan, the unauthorized take of an endangered or threatened animal — including gray wolves — is punishable by:
- "A fine of not less than $2,000 and not more than $100,000,
- Or by imprisonment for not more than one year in the county jail,
- Or by both such fine and such imprisonment,
- And an assessment of 20 points towards restrictions of hunting and fishing privileges."
If the individual is convicted, the CPW Commission may suspend a defendant's license privileges for anywhere between a year to the rest of their lifetime.
Because this is an open and active law enforcement investigation, case documents — including the necropsy — are not available.
The second cycle of wolf reintroductions is set to happen soon. CPW said it plans to capture up to 15 wolves from British Columbia and release them in Colorado sometime between January and March 2025.
Mid-December marked one year since Colorado began the voter-mandated wolf reintroduction process. Watch our report below.
Want to learn more about Colorado's wolf reintroduction? You can explore the below timeline, which outlines all of Denver7's coverage since the very beginning. The timeline starts with our most recent story.