Collared Colorado wolf found dead in Wyoming

Lauren Penington, The Denver Post on Aug 6, 2025

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DENVER — One of the wolves being tracked by Colorado researchers was found dead in Wyoming in late July, state officials announced Wednesday.

A female gray wolf, identified by Colorado Parks and Wildlife as wolf 2304, was part of a group of wolves captured in Oregon and moved to Colorado in December 2023, according to a news release from the agency.

The wolf was found dead nearly two weeks ago, on July 24, Colorado wildlife officials said Wednesday. It’s unclear how far the wolf ventured into Wyoming, where she was found dead or how she died.

“Wolves are known to travel long distances to find food or mates, including into other states,” state officials stated in the release.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife declined to comment further on the wolf’s death because it happened in Wyoming. The agency is coordinating with Wyoming Game and Fish to return the wolf’s tracking collar to Colorado.

Wyoming officials are prohibited by law from releasing information on the wolf’s death, Wyoming Game and Fish spokesperson Regina Dickson said.

The wolf was part of the first wave that arrived in the state after voters narrowly approved a measure mandating the reintroduction of gray wolves in 2020.

Three years later, in December 2023, 10 wolves captured in Oregon were released into Colorado. State wildlife officials planned to release an additional 10 to 15 wolves annually for three to five years, until the wolves’ population is stable and sustainable.

More than a dozen wolves from Canada were dropped into Colorado’s central mountains in January.

At least three other wolves died earlier this year, state officials said.

One was killed by a mountain lion in Rocky Mountain National Park in April, and another died in May after getting caught in a coyote trap. The cause of the third wolf’s death on May 31 remains under investigation.

Reintroduced gray wolves in Colorado are surviving at normal rates, state wildlife officials said last month. The average gray wolf lives between three and four years in the Rocky Mountains.

Three new wolf packs formed in Routt, Jackson and Rio Blanco counties this summer, and at least four wolf pups were spotted, officials said.

The packs join the Copper Creek pack, formed in 2024 as the first pack in Colorado created by reintroduced wolves.

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