Colorado Publishes Final Reports on 3 Wolf Removals Completed September 7 and 9

Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) published final reports on three lethal wolf removals completed Sept. 7 and 9, 2026, the agency said in a release from Denver dated Nov. 2. The three reports are dated Oct. 22 and are posted on CPW’s chronic depredation page, filed under Jackson, Pitkin and Rio Blanco counties.

On Sept. 7, CPW and its agents killed an uncollared male yearling from the Copper Creek Pack in Pitkin County after four confirmed depredation events in July, August and September, the agency said in a Sept. 8 release. The same day they killed an uncollared male yearling from the Three Creeks Pack in Rio Blanco County after four confirmed events in August and September.

On Sept. 9, CPW removed an uncollared female yearling from the One Ear Pack after confirming seven additional depredations during the evaluation period that followed an Aug. 4 removal from the same pack, the agency said in a Sept. 10 release. That release placed the removal in Grand County. The Oct. 22 final report is filed under Jackson County.

CPW’s administrative directive defines chronic depredation as three depredation events by the same wolf or wolves within 30 days, with at least one proven by clear and convincing evidence. Producers in all three cases had deployed cellular-connected cameras and range riders before the removals. CPW said its range riders had covered more than 20,000 miles and 6,000 hours in 2026 by early September.

Each removal was made in consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) under the USFWS 10(j) rule, which governs the reintroduced population. “Each decision to lethally remove a wolf is painstakingly evaluated and considered, and this option is only pursued when all other viable options have been exhausted,” CPW Director Laura Clellan said in the Nov. 2 release.

All three removals came before CPW suspended the directive on Sept. 30. In that announcement the agency counted 45 wolves as of Sept. 24, including 20 pups born this year, and said adult survival over the last biological year was 61%, below the 75% typical of an unharvested population. Five wolves had been lethally removed since the biological year began April 1, 2026.

With the directive suspended, CPW will judge any further removal case by case using a “very conservative approach” until the biological year ends March 31, 2027. Clellan said the suspension does not remove the agency’s obligation to help producers facing repeated depredation, and that lethal removal remains an option “if deemed absolutely necessary.”

CPW said it will revisit the directive and the conditions for removals with stakeholders. The revisions are due by April 1, 2027, the start of the next wolf biological year, alongside the Gray Wolf Annual Report.