Colorado Wildlife Officials Will Monitor State's First Gray Wolf Pups Since 1940s From Afar
(CBS4) - A heavily debated topic in our state is now taking its own course of action. Colorado has its first wolf pups born in the wild since the 1940s. This comes ahead of the state's re-introduction of gray wolves.
The endangered gray wolf pups have been spotted in Jackson County.
"A typical wolf litter will range from 4 to 6 pups, so we can't confirm there are only three pups at this time, but we certainly can confirm that we've seen three," says CPW's Rebecca Ferrell.
CPW says collared wolf F1084, also known as "Jane", migrated from Wyoming to Colorado in 2019, and met M2101, or "John."
"She spent approximately 18 months living on her own down before M2101 began to make an appearance," Ferrell said. "It's fantastic to see that wolves are able to naturally migrate, especially coming through Wyoming, there's challenging weather conditions, wolves are able to be hunted in Wyoming. It's tremendous that they make it here at all, and the fact that they found each other and have been able to reproduce is fantastic."
Last year, Coloradans voted in favor of reintroducing gray wolves by the end of 2023. CPW is working with Keystone Policy Center, a nonprofit focused on gathering public input from Coloradans across the state.
"Our work is in bringing together and working with those that CPW has appointed from agricultural perspectives, outfitters, sportspersons, wolf advocates, and more, and ensuring that their perspectives get included into the question of how restoration will happen and how management will happen moving forward," said Julie Shapiro with Keystone Policy Center.
As work on reintroduction continues, CPW will monitor this family from afar.
"It certainly helps us understand a little bit more about the natural patterns that are happening here in Colorado to be more successful moving forward," Ferrell said.
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