Colorado Releases the First Gray Wolves in the State

Colorado Parks and Wildlife has released five gray wolves in Western Colorado. The wolves were released on Monday in Grand County, Colorado on public land. The five wolves were captured in Oregon and Colorado Parks and Wildlife examined each of the gray wolves to verify they were fit for relocation in the state.

The criteria for the gray wolves included age, sex, health, and body conditions of each wolf to thrive in the state of Colorado. The wolves were also fitted with a trackable GPS collar before being let out into the wild.

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The new gray wolves of Colorado

The names of the wolves are a series of four numbers and two letters. The first two numbers indicate the year the wolves were captured and the second set of numbers show biologists the gender of the wolves. The two-letter suffix indicates the location from where the wolf comes from. In this case, all of the gray wolves come from the state of Oregon.

• 2302-OR: Juvenile female, black, 68 lbs., Five Points Pack
• 2303-OR: Juvenile male, gray, 76 lbs., Five Points Pack
• 2304-OR: Juvenile female, gray, 76 lbs., Noregaard pack
• 2305-OR: Juvenile female, gray, 93 lbs., Noregaard Pack
• 2307-OR: Adult male, black, 108 lbs., Wenaha Pack

This historic release of gray wolves is the first of many in the state of Colorado. Colorado Parks and Wildlife will release 15-20 gray wolves through mi-March 2024. Over the next three to five years, Colorado Parks and Wildlife hope to release 30 to 50 wolves that have been captured from nearby Rocky Mountain states from the north.

See the details on the first release of grey wolves in the state of Colorado at cpw.state.co.us.