A wolf released through Colorado’s controversial reintroduction program last winter met its end in north-central Wyoming last week, killed by federal agents who suspect the animal of preying on local livestock.
The death occurred after the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services responded to the loss of five sheep in the region. In an email sent Thursday, USDA spokesperson Tanya Espinosa said an investigation revealed bite marks and pawprints consistent with a wolf attack.
Federal agents killed a wolf at the same site on March 15. Further inspection found a collar attached to the animal by Colorado Parks and Wildlife, suggesting it was released through the controversial wolf reintroduction program Colorado voters narrowly approved in 2020.
“Wyoming Game and Fish returned the wolf and the collar to Colorado Parks and Wildlife,” Espinosa said.
A press release from Colorado Parks and Wildlife confirmed the animal — a male labeled 2505-BC — was among the 15 wolves brought from British Columbia to Colorado last January. It further noted wolves are known to travel long distances in search of food and mates.
State and federal laws strictly protect wolves within Colorado. Once a wolf wanders into Wyoming, however, it’s no longer covered by the U.S. Endangered Species Act, which prohibits anyone from harassing or killing the animals without federal permission.
Wyoming now allows anyone to kill wolves without a permit in its “predatory animal area,” which covers the state’s vast southern and eastern regions. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department actively manages wolf hunting in the state’s northwest corner outside of Yellowstone National Park and Teton National Park, where hunting is strictly prohibited.
It’s unclear exactly where the federal government killed the wolf in Wyoming.
The USDA’s Wildlife Services works closely with state wildlife agencies and ranchers to manage wolves in the northern Rocky Mountain states. Those states have seen their wolf populations grow since the mid-1990s, when the federal government reintroduced wolves in Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho.
In 2023, the agency killed 12 gray wolves in Wyoming, either with traps or by shooting the animals from aircraft, according to federal data.
Colorado wolf advocates quickly condemned the federal government’s decision to kill the wolf. In a press release, Rob Edward, the president of the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project, said ranchers and federal agencies have nonlethal tools to prevent livestock losses in most cases, and failing to employ those practices could hinder progress toward wolf restoration in Colorado.
