Grand County residents have lots of questions about wolves since 10 were released there in December 2023. Did I spot a wolf or coyote? How far have the released wolves traveled? Have there been any conflicts with people? To inform residents, Colorado Parks and Wildlife held a meeting March 3 in Winter Park.

District wildlife managers Jeff Behncke and Clayton McCall, along with area wildlife manager Jeromy Huntington, gave the presentation.

The officials explained there are tools residents can use at their homes to prevent negative encounters — such as noise making machines and floodlights. In the outdoors, people should stay cognizant of their surroundings and ensure they are not doing anything to attract a wolf — such as leaving food out at their campsite or letting their dog run loose.

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After the presentation, community members asked officials the following questions about the wolf reintroduction process.

Have livestock been killed?

On April 2, Parks and Wildlife confirmed that a wolf had killed a calf in Grand County. The agency didn’t identify the rancher, who wants to remain anonymous, or the part of the county where the depredation occurred.

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Before the incident, community members expressed concerns that a released yearling brother and sister pair came from the Five Points Pack in Oregon, which had confirmed livestock kills.

At the meeting, Huntington stated that when Parks and Wildlife officials captured the Five Points siblings, the pack hadn’t had any depredations since July 2023. This was because officials euthanized four wolves that had been killing livestock.

He added that the agency passed up on capturing packs that had committed more recent depredations, even though they were easier to capture. He also gave the caveat that any wolf is capable of depredation, whether they’re a Five Points wolf or from another pack.

“The challenge is, they are predators,” Huntington said. “Any wolf we bring in has the potential to go after livestock or pets. They’re carnivores.”

There are also two collared wolves still alive from the North Park pack. The North Park wolves have a history of livestock depredation — their last confirmed kill was in November 2023.

How far have the wolves traveled?

The released wolves have stayed in the state and haven’t ventured very far east in Grand County.

“Some of them are just making big movements, trying to figure out where they want to live,” said Behncke. “Trying to find other wolves. Time will tell where they do set up and establish packs.”

Overall, the wolves haven’t traveled as far as wildlife officials initially expected. Wolves can travel as far as 30 miles in a day.

At least one of the North Park wolves has ventured down into Grand County before; residents have spotted him. Wolves have been also tracked in Routt and Moffat counties since January.  

What does the 10(j) rule mean?

With the federal 10(j) rule of Endangered Species Act, individuals can legally take — kill, injure or harass — wolves. Wolves are protected under the Endangered Species Act, but 10(j) designates wolves in Colorado as an experimental population.

Before 10(j) took effect, individuals could not even haze or harass wolves to drive them away. Now, wolves can be killed if they are actively killing livestock or working dogs. This gives livestock producers the ability to protect their animals, although the specifics of chronic depredation are still murky. What tools do producers have if wolves are chronic depredators, but not caught in the act?

Livestock producers and Western Slope lawmakers have asked the agency to clearly define the term chronic depredation and how it relates to the 10(j) rule.

Wolves are not allowed to be euthanized if they are killing pets. What if a wolf attacks a human?

“You have that right to protect yourself if you’re in imminent danger,” Behncke said. “We want you to win. If your life is in imminent danger, please don’t worry about that fact that this is a federally protected animal.”

Attacks on people are rare. According to Parks and Wildlife, there have been only two fatal attacks in North America in this century.

What are their pack dynamics?

Of the 10 released wolves, there were two from the Five Points Pack, four from the Noregaard pack, two from the Wenaha pack, one from the Desolation pack and one from an unknown pack. Since their release, the wolves have figured out new pack dynamics, also in regards to the two already here in North Park.  

Part of the reason the wolves may have branched out and teamed up from others of a different pack is because of breeding season. Wolves typically breed beginning in mid-February, with pups being born starting in mid-April.

Once a breeding pair sets up a den, their location will be centralized in that area, with the female basically staying put in one spot. That’s the first step toward the creation of a pack.  

“That will be their pack when they have a breeding pair and the siblings,” Huntington said. “Sometimes they’ll accept other animals in; it just depends on their territorial nature.”

How do the collars function?

Although every wolf released in the state will be collared, these collars don’t last forever. On March 25, the agency stated that one collar has stopped working; another collar is partially functioning and may stop working in the future. Parks and Wildlife can decide to recollar the wolf, or another wolf in its pack. The two North Park wolves are collared as well.

“There’s interest in maintaining at least one collar per pack as they form, but as they have successful breeding cycles, we won’t have every wolf collared,” Behncke said.

The collars can provide useful data. As springtime nears, wolves may establish a den to birth pups. Parks and Wildlife can analyze the data to see if the wolves are staying in the place and returning often to a specific area — their den.

Collars also provide a mortality notification. Once an animal dies, the agency will be notified the animal stopped moving.

A wolf or a coyote?

Behncke and Huntington stated that Parks and Wildlife has received lots of reports of wolf sightings, but only a few have been confirmed.

“The majority of the sighting reports that I’ve seen are coyotes or potentially a dog,” Huntington said. “A lot of people have dogs that look like wolves.”

Coyotes in Colorado are also fairly large with thick coats, compared to coyotes in other states. This causes visitors to sometimes think coyotes are wolves.

What are the impacts of wolves on the landscape?

Huntington explained that when apex predators such as wolves establish themselves in an area, there are cascading and complicated effects.

“Nature is very complex, through interactions with predators and prey and their habitat,” he said. “… Wolves on the landscape change the distribution of deer and elk herds and potentially moose.”

As wolves move into the territory and begin hunting, prey animals disperse more frequently. If there is no predator on the landscape, herds may stay in one area.

Huntington added that CPW is in talks with Rocky Mountain National Park about creating a joint presentation on wolves’ impacts specifically in Colorado. This presentation will take time, since the releases have just started.

Where will the next wolves be released?

Proposition 114 required that the wolves be released west of the Continental Divide. The next wolf releases will take place sometime between December 2024 and March 2025. Parks and Wildlife designated two areas on the West Slope where wolves could be released — a northern zone and a southern zone. The first release took place in the north, which included Grand County.

“We have not made plans as far as what next year’s releases will look like, whether we’ll go down toward Gunnison,” Huntington said. “A lot of that depends on what happens with the 10 that have been released, as well as interactions with the two in North Park. There’s still a possibility of wolves coming into the state that we don’t release.”

If wolves venture into the state on their own, Parks and Wildlife will manage them just as it does with current wolves. However, if the released wolves leave the state, they may be brought back, depending on which state. Currently, the agency has agreements with Utah, New Mexico and Arizona for wolves to be recaptured and returned to Colorado.

More questions?

At the meeting, officials discussed numerous ways that residents can stay informed about the wolves living on the west slope. You can visit Parks and Wildlife’s webpage, Wolf Educational Resources or read the pamphlet Living with Wolves on its website. To learn how to discern between a wolf or coyote, read the pamphlet Coyote or Gray Wolf on the website.

Elliott Wenzler contributed reporting to this story in regards to the 10(j) rule.