Colorado Parks and Wildlife released a new map Wednesday, Sept. 25, tracking the movements of the eight remaining wolves in the wild.
According to the most recent map, these wolves have continued to explore areas of Eagle, Summit, Grand, Jackson and Routt counties. While these are predominantly the same counties where the wolves roamed in August, their movements are less expansive in the most recent map, which shows wolf activity between Aug. 27 and Sept. 24.
In September, the map, which uses Colorado’s watershed boundaries to show where wolves have been detected, shows a gap within the northernmost watershed in Jackson County. According to Parks and Wildlife, this is likely related to how the collars work and how quickly the wolves are traveling.
“If wolves are moving quickly enough, a GPS point may not be taken in every watershed they travel through,” the agency stated. “GPS points are currently taken every four hours.”
The wolves still have not moved south of Interstate 70, according to Parks and Wildlife.
While a wolf was detected in Rocky Mountain National Park in August, the wolf has since moved as the latest map shows no activity in the area or Larimer County.
In the last 30 days, the number of Colorado wolves roaming has dropped from 15 to eight, with two of the collared wolves dying and the relocation of the Copper Creek Pack.
The adult male from the Copper Creek Pack died in captivity Sept. 3. The wolf was found with a hind leg injury and infection during relocation operations after the pack was tied to several livestock depredations. The female and four wolf pups were also captured and remain in captivity. Another adult male wolf died in Grand County on Monday, Sept. 9. The cause of both deaths in September is still being investigated.
While Parks and Wildlife previously stated that the Copper Creek Pack was responsible for the majority of wolf-related livestock deaths since reintroduction, the agency has since confirmed a wolf depredation that occurred Sep. 9 in Grand County, four days after the Copper Creek Pack had been removed from the area. The depredation involved one calf and one cow.
In addition to sharing the wolves’ most recent movements, Parks and Wildlife hired five new Wildlife Damage Specialists in September. The goal of these employees is “to help with depredation investigations, site assessments, rapid response resource deployment, and community outreach,” according to Parks and Wildlife.
The agency also recently announced that the next 15 wolves will come from British Columbia. The wolves will be released in northwestern Colorado between December and March.
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Publish date : 2024-09-26 03:11:00
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