The patriarch of the West Slope’s Copper Creek Pack, the first formed since reintroduction, died last week just days after officers captured the animal with plans to move the family to prevent livestock attacks.
Parks and Wildlife said Monday the wolf had a severe leg injury and was in poor health before he was captured.
“It was apparent that he was not mobile on that leg,” Reid DeWalt, who is overseeing the state's wolf reintroduction program, said Monday. “It looked like there were some very deep puncture wounds there and a lot of infection.”
The wolf was given antibiotics but died at the facility four days after capture. A third party will try to determine the cause of death.
Using leg traps in an operation that lasted more than a week, wildlife officers also captured the female and her four pups. The wolves are being held in an undisclosed facility and the state says it plans to release the wolves again, as soon as this winter, when the pups can hunt on their own.
But the relocation operation and the death of a second reintroduced wolf has sparked a number of questions.
Wildlife officials briefed reporters at two separate meetings on Monday. Here are the highlights.
Two of the reintroduced wolves from Oregon are now dead, one from a suspected mountain lion attack and the latest from a suspected leg wound. What impact will this have on Colorado’s efforts to restore the wolf population?
Parks and Wildlife officials say they’re still optimistic about the prospects of restoring the wolf populations despite losing about 20% of the first wave of wolves.
“Natural mortality is always going to be a part of this,” CPW Director Jeff Davis said, adding that eight reintroduced wolves are still alive and well.
Eric Odell, the species conservation manager, said wolf reintroductions are especially “challenging.”
“It did not necessarily go particularly smoothly in the initial years in the northern Rockies, when wolf restoration happened there in the mid 90s,” he said. “So there's lots of examples of learning and improving along the way, so I'm not concerned about the overall success of the program.”
Why did Parks and Wildlife wait almost a week to publicly announce the news of the latest wolf death?
CPW Director Davis said it was because operations to capture the other wolves in the pack were ongoing through Monday.
“I think a key factor in any of these operations, is making sure that the safety of the staff and the animals is our utmost importance,” he said.
Where are the other members of the Copper Creek Pack being held?
CPW officials won’t disclose much about the facility, including it’s location, to protect the animals. About the only detail gleaned during an hourlong press conference about the holding area was that the location is somewhere “there aren’t a lot of people around” and someone is bringing roadkill carcasses to the facility to feed the wolves.
“That’s the only interaction that happens very, very briefly and for a very short period of time, not necessarily even every day,” species conservation program manager Eric Odell said. “And so they're taking every precaution to keep them from getting normalized to human presence.”
What’s the fate of the rest of the Copper Creek Pack?
Parks and Wildlife officials say they have plans to release the pups on the West Slope as soon as this winter.
“If it's determined that the pups can thrive, CPW does plan to release them when they will be adult-sized and able to hunt on their own or together in a pack,” Director Davis said. “We will have conversations with local elected officials and landowners in possible release areas before any releases occur.”
But the fate of the female remains unclear.
Officials said “if” they decide to release her again, she will be closely monitored.
Parks and Wildlife resisted several calls to intervene and kill the male of the Copper Creek Pack due to his suspected attacks on livestock. What led to their decision to capture the pack and relocate it?
Director Davis called the circumstances leading up to the capture operation “unique” and a “perfect storm.”
“What we didn't want is to see the pups going out on hunts with adults, in situations where they may have been keying in on livestock, as opposed to natural prey,” he said. “So it was the timing was really kind of driven by a lot of factors, but that was one of the key, key factors in our mind.”
He said the idea to relocate the pack was proposed as a way to balance the concerns of ranchers losing cows to the wolves with the mandate from voters to establish a “self-sustaining” wolf population in Colorado.
What are the other reintroduced wolves up to?
CPW says the remaining wolves are continuing to roam and live "solitary" lifestyles. There won't be another chance for a new pack to form until breeding season in the spring, according to biologists.
"They will probably continue to do some of the broad movements that we've seen this year," Odell said of the wolves. "As we bring more animals in this winter, hopefully there's some some interactions, some pairing, and some more breeding."
There are nine wolves currently in the wild in Colorado, according to CPW. That includes wolves that ventured into the state on their own before the reintroduction.
A report released by CPW this month revealed that the state's wolves spent the most time in Routt and Jackson counties.
Meanwhile, CPW says it's "on track" to release 10-15 more wolves on the West Slope this upcoming winter, but a source for the next wave has not been announced.
