COLORADO – Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), in agreement with the B.C. Ministry of Water, Lands and Resource Stewardship, will capture and relocate up to 15 wolves from British Columbia, Canada, into Colorado this winter. The process will be conducted between December 2024 and March 2025 as a part of the Colorado gray wolf reintroduction effort.
The voter approved Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan outlines CPW’s move to release 10-15 gray wolves on the West Slope every year for 3-5 years. CPW is responsible for all costs to capture and transport the animals, though they will be working directly with biologists from the B.C. Ministry of Water, Lands and Resource Stewardship.
“We are grateful to the B.C. Ministry of Water, Lands and Resource Stewardship for working with our agency on this critical next step in reintroducing gray wolves in the state. Their willingness and ability to work with another jurisdiction to support our conservation priorities, as they have in past translocation efforts, demonstrates their long-shared commitment to seeing this species succeed.” – CPW Director Jeff Davis
CPW will capture the animals in partnership with the B.C. Ministry of Water, Lands and Resource Stewardship, test and treat any diseases at source sites, and place collars on the wolves for monitoring behavior and survival. From there, the animals will be transported to the state in sturdy aluminum crates by airplane and/or truck and released as soon as possible.
The organization will not capture and relocate any animals that have major injuries (broken limbs, lice infection, missing eyes, etc.) or that are from packs associated with repeated livestock depredation situations.
“We are looking forward to working with B.C. and bringing together our combined experience and expertise in an effort that’s a win for both agencies. Gray wolves from the Canadian Rockies were used for reintroduction in Idaho and Yellowstone. There are no biological differences between wolves in British Columbia and the wolves released in Colorado last year, and the new source population will provide additional genetic diversity to our state’s small but growing wolf population.” – CPW Wolf Conservation Program Manager Eric Odell