Colorado's new gray wolf pups were recently captured in a video — the first to be shared publicly — and state officials said all of the young animals appeared to be healthy as they played along a dirt road.
The video, taken by Mike and Hank Usalavage and shared with Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), showed three wolf pups and one adult wolf playing around a puddle in a shaded spot along a dirt road in an undisclosed location.
The trio is part of the Copper Creek Pack, which was named by CPW in June. A wolf pack is established once a pair reproduces, and that was confirmed on June 18 after CPW biologists spotted a single wolf pup at a den site in Grand County. The Copper Creek Pack is the first confirmed wolf pack in Colorado since the reintroduction in December.
The video was confirmation that the pack had not just one, but three wolf pups, and CPW said they all appeared healthy and about 40 to 50 pounds.
Watch the full video of the three wolf pups playing below.
"Playing not only allows a wolf pup to practice hunting behaviors but also teaches them how to communicate effectively with other wolves, which is a skill they will use throughout their lives as social creatures living in packs," CPW wrote on social media.
Travis Duncan, spokesperson with CPW, said biologists could not tell the genders of the pups by the video, but believe they are about four months old. By the time they turn 2, they may leave the Copper Creek Pack to find a mate.
CPW will try to ensure at least one wolf has a GPS collar in each wolf pack, but they have not yet decided if they plan to collar these three pups.
Currently, Colorado is home to 11 known adult wolves — nine that were introduced in December (originally 10, but one of the introduced wolves was killed by a mountain lion in April) and two that moved into Colorado previously — and three pups.
The wolf reintroduction was mandated by voters in 2020. In May 2023, the Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan was finalized after years of meetings and discussions with community members. By the end of the year, 10 wolves had been released in Grand and Summit counties.
They have since spread to various watersheds in the state, as illustrated in the latest gray wolf activity map below. The map is updated on the fourth Wednesday of every month here. The wolves have not moved south of Interstate 70 as of the time of the below map's publication.
One benchmark of the short-term success of the wolf reintroduction effort includes the reintroduced wolves forming pairs and breeding. A further goal is for those pups born in Colorado to go on and reproduce themselves within the state.
Wolves typically breed in the late winter and give birth to four to six pups on average in the spring. They usually give birth in April at a den, where the pups spend their first couple months of life. This is the same time that wild ungulates, like deer and elk, also give birth, so adult wolves can go after easier prey.
When the wolf pups reach about eight weeks, the adults will move the pups to something called "rendezvous areas," which are similar to dens, but are more of a general shape at a fixed location where the pups can grow up and interact with the rest of the pack. These rendezvous areas have access to water, cover and lack of disturbances.
The pup rearing period will last until September.
Wolf pup survival rates vary, but CPW said about half, or slightly more than half, of pups make it past one year. Wild wolves survive about three to four years in the wild, though captive ones can live beyond 10 years, CPW said.
Previously, in Jackson County, a wolf pair that had naturally traveled from Wyoming into Colorado mated and gave birth to a six-pup litter in 2021. It was the first known wolf litter to call Colorado home since the 1940s.
Environmental groups have celebrated the reintroduction of the wolves and a successful breeding pair.
"I love to see these playful pups sparking joy among Coloradans and I think they represent real hope for the future," said Alli Henderson, southern Rockies director for the Center for Biological Diversity. "Wolf restoration in our state is getting a boost from those livestock producers who are proactively and appropriately using coexistence measures and drawing on all the financial resources available to do so. I’m hoping to see the entire livestock industry embrace the basic, proven steps that can help producers coexist with the thriving wolf population that Colorado residents support."
However, ranchers continue to raise concerns for their livestock. As of Tuesday morning, 24 animals — sheep, calves and cows — had been injured or killed by wolves since the December 2023 release. These incidents happened in Jackson County, Grand County and Routt County.
In June, Denver7 had the exclusive opportunity to speak with Phillip Anderson, a Jackson County rancher who had decided to take advantage of the state's free tools to try to mitigate wolf depredations, and CPW's Wolf Conflict Program Coordinator Adam Baca. Anderson had allowed CPW to install fladry — a line of bright, rectangular, heavy-duty flags hung on a wire surrounding a pasture perimeter — on his property.
Last year, wolves came "pretty darn close" to Anderson's livestock during a blizzard in northern Colorado, but they never attacked, he said. The wolves' GPS collar data showed that the animals had made a 90-degree turn at the fladry away from the cattle.
"And when that happened, then we knew it worked," Anderson said, adding, "It works. It works. That's so hard to get across to other producers that haven't tried it. Until you try it, you don't know if it's gonna work or not.”
Baca said some ranchers question if any of the tools provided by the state will work.
“I can't force anybody to do anything they don't want to, especially on private lands," he said.
In talks with others in the community, Anderson has heard similar attitudes. He respects his fellow ranchers and their choices but adds it is unfair to claim something isn't going to work before giving it a try. But the ranching community feels like it has been attacked by something they can't control, he said.
"And that's why we're talking to you, we’re talking to the rest of the CPW folks, we're talking to the rest of our friends," Anderson said. "This is what we need to do to get it to come to a… not an end, but to get to a point where we can use the Colorado wolf management plan every year, and make it better every year.”
Watch Denver7's story on how the state's wolf conflict coordinator and ranchers have found common ground protecting livestock.
CPW is reminding the public that wolf country now spans Colorado's foothills and mountains. They are protected both federally and at the state level as an endangered species.
"Wolves are wild animals and should be treated with the same respect as any other wild animal," CPW said.
According to the final wolf plan published in the spring of 2023, wolf attacks on people are "exceedingly rare" and there are no documented accounts of a person dying from a wild wolf between 1900 and 2000, as they generally fear people. One of the conditions under which a wolf may attack is when it is defending its territory, den sites and pups.
If you see a wolf, CPW asks that you fill out its Wolf Sighting Form here, and include photos or video if possible. The CPW Commission will meet Thursday and Friday, and is expected to discuss the latest updates on the state's wolves around 8:05 a.m. Friday. You can tune into the meeting live on YouTube here.
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