DENVER — A gray wolf from the controversial Copper Creek pack that wandered into New Mexico has been captured and re-released in Grand County on Thursday, Colorado Parks and Wildlife said.
CPW cited proximity to an unpaired female gray wolf, the presence of natural prey and distance from livestock as reasons for choosing Grand County for the wolf’s release. The agency didn’t provide any specifics about the release location, or where New Mexico Department of Fish and Game officials captured the wolf.
Wolf movement maps from October and November showed wolf activity in watersheds close to the New Mexico border – and near the Front Range.
“We are grateful to our partners at the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish for their efforts to capture and return a member of Colorado’s gray wolf population,” acting CPW Director Laura Clellan said in a news release. “Gray wolf 2403 has been returned to Colorado and released in a location where it can best contribute to CPW’s efforts to establish a self-sustaining wolf population while concurrently attempting to minimize potential wolf-related livestock conflicts.”
As part of its voter-mandated wolf reintroduction, Colorado has a memorandum of understanding with the neighboring states of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico that requires any wolf that crosses into those states will be returned. Likewise, Mexican gray wolves that leave Arizona and New Mexico will be returned to their designated areas as part of those states’ Mexican gray wolf recovery efforts.
- Read the full Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan below.
The Copper Creek pack’s existence was confirmed in June of 2024 in Grand County. Months later, all but one wolf from the pack was captured and relocated after a series of livestock attacks, but the controversy surrounding the pack didn’t stop.
In May, CPW officials shot and killed one of the wolves it said was responsible for four livestock depredations in an eight-day span. The lone uncaptured wolf is believed to be to blame for a string of sheep attacks in Rio Blanco County this summer.
The pack was the subject of a special CPW commission meeting in July, in which the commission opted not to direct CPW to take any action on the wolf pack for the time being.
CPW is planning a third round of gray wolf reintroductions in January 2026.
Denver7 has been following Colorado's wolf reintroduction program since the very beginning, and you can explore all of that reporting in the timeline below. The timeline starts with our most recent story.
Denver7 in-depth wolf coverage
The below list outlines an overview of the known wolf population in Colorado:
- Six wolves surviving from the original 10 that were released in December 2023 (one died of a likely mountain lion attack, a second died from injuries sustained prior to his capture as part of the Copper Creek Pack relocation effort, a third wolf became sickly and died, and a fourth died in Wyoming)
- Three wolves surviving of the five wolf pups born in the spring of 2024 (one male was killed by CPW after multiple depredations in Pitkin County and a second male was shot for the same reasons in September)
- 10 wolves surviving from the 15 that were released in January 2025 (one was shot and killed by Wildlife Services in Wyoming, a second died of unknown causes in Wyoming, a third died in Rocky Mountain National Park, a fourth died in northwest Colorado and the fifth died in northwest Colorado after it was likely hit by a car, and a sixth died in southwestern Colorado)
- Unknown number of pups born in four packs in 2025
- Two uncollared wolves that moved south from Wyoming several years ago and have been in and out of the area. It is not clear if they are alive or still in the state.
- One uncollared wolf that was last known to be in northwest Moffat County in mid-February 2025. It is not clear if it is alive or still in the state.
- Possible, but unconfirmed, wolf in the Browns Park area as of February 2025. It is not clear if it is alive or still in the state.