CPW Kills Two Yearling Wolves After Repeated Livestock Attacks

While many of us were perfecting the art of burning a brisket on Monday, the folks at Colorado Parks and Wildlife were busy laboring away.

On Labor Day, while many of us were taking something of an additional sabbath, CPW agents were busy tracking and removing a pair of uncollared male yearling wolves after a rash of livestock depredation events.  One of the now deceased wolves hailed from the Copper Creek Pack in Pitkin County, while the other was a member of the Three Creeks Pack in Rio Blanco County. Each animal, the agency says, was tied to four confirmed livestock kills this summer.

What they killed, and why

The Copper Creek yearling had continued its reign of terror in central Colorado’s cattle country across July, August and into September, as part of a pack that has quite literally become the problem child of the reintroduction effort. From the early onset, this pack has been punching above its weight, initially in Grand County, before getting scooped up, placed in a sanctuary and then shipped off alongside livestock producers in Pitkin County.

The Three Creeks yearling had more of a taste for mutton, with reports indicating that the Rio Blanco County wolf tore up 13 lambs and two ewes across four main incidents, with additional ewes allegedly lost earlier in July.

CPW’s bar for this kind of shot is “chronic depredation” which equals three events inside of a 30 day window, with at least one of them clear-and-convincing. Both of these cases easily cleared that threshold, all while producers utilized cameras, range riders, hazing and just about any other form of non-lethal deterrents they could. 

“CPW’s field staff in Northwest Colorado is working hard to implement conflict minimization tools and techniques to help reduce wolf-livestock conflict in the region,” said CPW Director Laura Clellan. “We remain committed to both Colorado’s livestock producers and efforts to support our growing wolf population. I would like to thank our staff for their efforts and the impacted producers whose trust and collaboration is crucial as we navigate this challenge.”

The running count

These two recent kills now bring the tally to five wolves CPW has lethally removed for depredation since the first Oregon animals hit the ground in December 2023:

Four of the five lethal removals have come since June and total wolf deaths of every kind, including trucks, other states, capture, cats, a hunter who thought he had a coyote, unknowns, plus these five, are now sitting around 19 since the program started. Confirmed livestock losses since CPW started keeping the public ledger in 2024 have drifted well into triple digits and 2026 is already outrunning both 2024 and 2025’s numbers.

The Copper Creek pack still owns a ridiculous share of that damage.

Monday’s shots show that CPW seems to be sticking pretty tightly to the 10(j) rule, which is the legal loophole that lets Colorado manage wolves instead of treating every one like a fully endangered animal. Without 10(j), Proposition 114 could still have put wolves on the ground, but killing one for eating calves would have been a federal crime with almost no clean path for lethal management. The state (rightfully) asked for the rule specifically so conflict management wouldn’t be illegal on day one.

Now CPW is using the lethal tools it wrote in early 2025 because the conflict numbers finally forced the issue, all while a hostile Interior Department has cut off new wolves and is circling the 10(j) agreement itself.

For now CPW says they will be evaluating whether this recent removal effort is able to shift behavior inside the packs. With range riders already logging 20,000 miles this season alone,  non-lethal tools are still the primary driver. Whether they prove to be more effective than lethal options, remains a question CPW hopes to answer following this most recent evaluation period.