Another reintroduced wolf from Canada has died, Colorado Parks and Wildlife says 

Another of Colorado’s reintroduced gray wolves has died, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife. 

The agency said in a Friday news release that it received a mortality alert from a female gray wolf’s collar on Oct. 30. Parks and Wildlife said the death took place in southwest Colorado. 

CPW said the cause of death won’t be known until an investigation, including a necropsy, is completed. The investigation is being handled by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The wolf was one of 15 that were brought from British Columbia and released on Colorado’s Western Slope at the start of this year. Six of those wolves have since died, and 11 wolves in total have died since the beginning of the state’s reintroduction program in December 2023. 

One of those was a year-old pup killed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials in late May after being connected to multiple livestock attacks in just over a week in Pitkin County, which met the agency’s definition of “chronic depredation,” which can warrant lethal action. Another chronically depredating wolf was shot in August, but the body was never found, and officials could not confirm if the animal was dead.

Since reintroduction began, Colorado has relocated 25 wolves who’ve formed four packs, with more than a dozen pups born. CPW’s most recent wolf map, as of October, shows the animals continuing to spread across the Western Slope, with more movement into the southern region near the New Mexico border. 

Parks and Wildlife is currently in its third year of wolf reintroduction, with a plan to bring another 10 to 15 wolves to southern Colorado this winter. That plan, however, could be upended after the federal government told Colorado last month that it can no longer import wolves from Canada, and that any new relocations must be from U.S. Rockies states. 

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 one month to four months to be released by the federal agency. 

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 likely from a collision with a car.
July 24, 2025: A female gray wolf died after traveling to Wyoming, the third to die in the neighboring state.
Aug. 16, 2025: A male uncollared wolf that was chronically depredating in Rio Blanco County was shot, but officials could not confirm if the animal died.
Oct. 30, 2025: A female wolf that was brought from British Columbia died in southwest Colorado. The cause of death is under investigation.