Defenders celebrates announcement that up to 15 more wolves will be reintroduced to Colorado this winter

Defenders is celebrating the news from Colorado Parks and Wildlife today that up to 15 wolves will be provided by the British Columbia Ministry of Water, Lands and Resource Stewardship this winter, marking the second consecutive year of Colorado’s historic voter-mandated gray wolf reintroduction.

“Today’s announcement is a timely reaffirmation of CPW’s commitment to wolf recovery,” said Michael Saul, Rockies and Plains Program Director for Defenders of Wildlife. “To help ensure these wolves have the best chance at successful reintroduction, CPW must act on lessons learned from this year, specifically, prioritizing rules requiring all agency-recommended nonlethal conflict measures be exhausted before considering any lethal removal or relocation of wolves. When employed correctly, appropriate nonlethal tools and strategies can effectively minimize wolf-livestock conflicts and prevent relocation or lethal removal.”

Today’s announcement follows news of the removal and relocation of the Copper Creek Pack, the first breeding pair and litter of the 2023 reintroduction, and news of the third wolf mortality of the ten wolves reintroduced in 2023. Details on the cause of death of two of those wolves remain unknown.  

Gray wolf reintroduction in Colorado prescribes a total of 30-50 reintroduced individuals over three to five years. Capture and release efforts of the 2024 cohort are expected to take place from December 2024 to March 2025, and wolves will be released on state-owned lands in the northern reintroduction area identified in CPW’s Wolf Restoration and Management Plan.  

“Securing a new source of wolves is cause for celebration, and we remain firmly committed to ongoing, collaborative efforts to minimize wolf-livestock conflict. We embrace this opportunity to support the next steps in this reintroduction so both wolves and people thrive together on Colorado landscapes,” Saul continued. “Wildlife managers and livestock producers from Montana to Minnesota know a simple truth – wolves and ranching can thrive side by side if humans choose to allow it. The long journey to wolf recovery has just begun, but news of four healthy pups plus up to 15 new wolves on the way should give us all reason for hope and joy.”

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