In December 2023, Colorado Parks and Wildlife released 10 wolves in Grand and Summit counties after voters approved to reintroduce the animals to the state in 2020.
The state releases monthly maps showing wolf activity, tracks depredations and compensates ranchers who file a claim following a depredation.
Six wolves have died since being reintroduced, while five pups have been born, creating the Copper Creek pack. However, most of the pack has since been relocated, and in the process, the male wolf died.
In January 2025, 15 wolves from British Columbia were released in Eagle and Pitkin counties, alongside the Copper Creek pack matriarch and four pups.
Gray wolves are currently federally listed under the Endangered Species Act in Colorado. As such, when a wolf dies in the state, the necropsy and investigation into the death are performed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Initial results from necropies have taken anywhere from 1 month to 4 months to be released by the federal agency.
All the wolves that died in 2024 were from the first 10 brought from Oregon in December 2023. All of those who have died this year were from the 15 brought from British Columbia in January.
April 18, 2024: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service confirmed the death of a male wolf in Larimer County. Initial necropsy results from the federal agency, released in May, indicated that a mountain lion attack was likely the cause of death.
Sept. 3, 2024: Four days after being captured and placed in captivity, the Copper Creek pack’s adult male wolf died from injuries sustained in the wild. The wolf was reported to be underweight, have wounds on its right hind leg as well as an infection related to the injury.
In January, Fish and Wildlife released the initial necropsy results, reporting that a gunshot wound was responsible for the wolf’s “poor condition” and death. As it is illegal to kill or harm a wolf in Colorado, the death is still under investigation by the federal agency.
Sept. 9, 2024: A male wolf died in Grand County. In November, the Fish and Wildlife Service reported that the initial necropsy results suggest the death was likely due to a fight with another wolf. The report also showed that the wolf had an old, healed gunshot wound.
March 16, 2025: A male wolf was killed by the U.S. Wildlife Services in north-central Wyoming. The wolf was killed by the federal agency after it was tied to the death of five sheep.
April 9, 2025: A male wolf was killed in Wyoming, where the species is delisted from the federal Endangered Species Act and state law allows anyone to kill a wolf in the majority of Wyoming without a license.
April 20, 2025: A female gray wolf died in Rocky Mountain National Park from a mountain lion attack.
May 15, 2025: A female gray wolf died in northwest Colorado. due to “an apparent secondary trauma from a lawful foothold trap used for coyote control,” according to an investigation.
May 29, 2025: Parks and Wildlife killed one of the male yearlings in the Copper Creek Pack in Pitkin County. The lethal action was taken after the pack was connected to multiple livestock attacks in the area over Memorial Day weekend, meeting the agency’s definition for “chronic depredation.”
May 31, 2025: A male gray wolf died in northwest Colorado. The Fish and Wildlife Service is still investigating the cause of death.
Monthly wolf activity maps
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The June 2025 wolf activity map.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy Photo
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A map showing which Colorado watersheds collared gray wolves were between April 22 and May 27, 2025. This is the furthest south and west wolves have been tracked since reintroduction began in December 2023.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy Photo
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The April wolf activity map shows one wolf traveling solo through the southern portion of the state, as well as substantial movement from others across the state.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy Photo
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The March map shows Colorado’s collared gray wolves have moved a bit more compared to the previous 30 day period.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy Photo
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Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s monthly map showing which watersheds the 28 collared gray wolves explored between Jan. 21 and Feb. 25, 2025.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy Photo
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Colorado Parks and Wildlife is now monitoring 29 wolves across the state. Its most recent watershed map shows where these wolves travelled between Dec. 22 and Jan. 21.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy Photo
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Watersheds are highlighted purple in areas where Colorado’s collared wolves were detected in November. The wolves traveled mostly in Northwest Colorado according to the map released on Dec. 23, 2024.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy illustration
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In November, Colorado’s collared gray wolves continued to enter watersheds throughout Lake, Summit, Grand, Routt, Jackson, Rio Blanco and Garfield counties.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy photo
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Colorado Parks and Wildlife released a new wolf activity map on Sunday, Nov. 4 as a collared wolf was tracked south of I-70 for the first time since reintroduction.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy Photo
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Using watersheds and GPS collars, Colorado Parks and Wildlife has been tracking wolf activity in the state. Here’s where they were detected between Sept. 24 and Oct. 22.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy photo
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The September wolf activity map shows less activity in Jackson County.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy photo
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A map issued by state officials shows the watersheds that wolves have traveled into between July 23 and Aug. 27, 2024.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy photo
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The Colorado Parks and Wildlife July wolf activity map shows less movement compared to June.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy illustration
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The June wolf activity map shows the animals expanding across the state of Colorado.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy
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The May activity map shows wolves have explored a little new territory in the last four weeks.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy photo
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Colorado Parks and Wildlife released the latest collared gray wolf activity map on Apr. 24, showing new wolf activity in watersheds east of the Continental Divide and onto the Front Range.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy photo
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This Colorado Parks and Wildlife map, released March 27, shows watersheds in which at least one wolf has traveled over the last 30 days. The map is zoomed in on the Western Slope, showing wolf activity that spans Grand County to the east, Rio Blanco County to the west, the Interstate 70 corridor on the southern border and Jackson County at the northern border.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy photo
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February wolf activity map
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy photo
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Colorado Parks and Wildlife has created a Collared Gray Wolf Activity Map that will help inform the public on where gray wolves have been in the past month. The map will be updated with new information on a monthly basis, produced on the fourth Wednesday of every month, and will reflect data for the prior month, give or take several days.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy photo
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Ghost, or wolf 2302-OR, is a young female who was released in Grand Couty on Dec. 18, 2023.
Jerry Neal/Colorado Parks and Wildlife
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Ghost, or wolf 2302-OR, is a young female that was one of the first five wolves reintroduced to Colorado. The next 10-15 wolves that will be reintroduced by the end of 2024 will come from British Columbia and be released in northwest Colorado.
Jerry Neal/Colorado Parks and Wildlife
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Maverick, or wolf 2304-OR, was released in Grand County on Dec. 18, 2023. It was one of the first five wolves reintroduced to Colorado.
Jerry Neal/Colorado Parks and Wildlife
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Maverick, or wolf 2304-OR, is a young female and was released in Grand County on Dec. 18, 2023.
Jerry Neal/Colorado Parks and Wildlife
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River, or wolf 2305-OR, is a young male that was released in Grand County on Dec. 18, 2023.
Jerry Neal/Colorado Parks and Wildlife
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River, or wolf 2305-OR, is a young male that was one of the first five wolves reintroduced to Colorado on Dec. 18, 2023. Two of the three males that were reintroduced died in September.
Jerry Neal/Colorado Parks and Wildlife
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Shadow, or wolf 2307-OR, an adult male was released in Grand County on Dec. 18, 2023. He was one of the first five wolves reintroduced to Colorado.
Jerry Neal/Colorado Parks and Wildlife
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Shadow, or wolf 2307-OR, is an adult male, who was released in Grand County on Dec. 18, 2023. The wolf was found dead in September in Grand County and a necropsy shows the likely cause of death was another wolf.
Jerry Neal/Colorado Parks and Wildlife
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Aspen, or wolf 2303-OR was one of the first five wolves reintroduced to Colorado on Dec. 18, 2023. However, the young female was found dead in Larimer County on April 18, 2024.
Jerry Neal/Colorado Parks and Wildlife
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A wolf bounds out of its crate and into the night on Thursday in Eagle County. The wolf is one of five released by Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials in Eagle County. The agency released a combined 15 wolves in Eagle and Pitkin counties this month in three separate drops.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy photo
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Colorado Parks and wildlife announced on Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025, that it had begun an operation to capture and bring up to 15 wolves from Canada over the next two weeks.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy Photo
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Colorado voters narrowly passed a ballot measure in 2020 allowing wolf reintroduction. Wolves were released last winter in Grand and Summit counties. More are expected to be released in or near Garfield, Eagle and Pitkin counties this winter.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy Photo
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In December 2023, wolves were transported in aluminum crates from Oregon to Colorado.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy Photo
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A few weeks after the capture and relocation of the Copper Creek pack’s two adults and four wolf pups, Colorado Parks and Wildlife spotted a fifth gray wolf from the pack in Grand County. The wolf remains uncollared in the wild after attempts to reunite him with his pack failed.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy Photo
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Matt Yamashita, a district wildlife manager with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, looks over documents on Thursday night in Eagle County during the release of five wolves. The releases were cloaked in secrecy. The state agency’s deputy director said this month that members of the public followed agency personnel, made threats and staked out government offices.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy photo
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Colorado Parks and Wildlife employees remove a crate with a gray wolf from the trailer in Colorado at the release site on Jan. 14, 2025.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy photo
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A gray wolf is carried from the helicopter to the site where it will be checked by Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff in January 2025.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy photo
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A gray wolf sits in a temporary pen awaiting transport to Colorado during capture operations in British Columbia in January 2025.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy photo
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A crate carrying one of Colorado’s recently introduced wolves from British Columbia sits open. Colorado Parks and Wildlife released 15 wolves in Eagle and Pitkin counties during the third week of January.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy Photo
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Colorado Parks and Wildlife Wolf Conservation Program Manager Eric Odell stands on site in British Columbia during its operations to relocate 15 wolves from the province to Colorado.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy Photo
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A gray wolf looks over its shoulder after being released into an area filled with sage brush. It is one of 20 wolves released in January 2025, 15 of which were translocated from British Columbia.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy Photo
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Gray wolves run across British Columbia during Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s capture operations in January 2025. Even as reintroduction continues and Colorado’s population grows, encounters with wolves will be unlikely for people living and recreating in wolf country.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy Photo
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Two years into Colorado’s voter-initiated wolf reintroduction, another citizen group is pushing for changes to the state law via ballot. However, several groups and counties in northwest Colorado have concerns.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy Photo
Colorado Wolf Release 12-18-23 from Colorado Parks & Wildlife on Vimeo.