Another of Colorado ’s reintroduced gray wolves has choke . The female Hugo Wolf was report dead in NW Colorado on May 15 , stigmatise the seventh death among the brute re-introduce to the state in recent year .
In a shortstatement , Colorado Parks and Wildlife said the cause of death will not be revealed until the necropsy and investigation are make out . The office lend that the individual belong to to a group of 15 Wolf that wererelocated to Coloradofrom British Columbia in January 2025 .
The wolf isreportedlythe 7th death since the state ’s reintroduction program start in 2023 and the fourth from this yr ’s relocated cohort to die .
In 2020 , Colorado voters approved their reintroduction by a slim margin . The publicvoted to approveProposition 114 , a voting step that would see the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission touch on and manage grey wolves on fate soil west of the Continental Divide .
The plan was highly controversial and divisive from the get - go . Supporters argue that reintroducing brute could aid restorebalance to local ecosystems , as the specie was overhunted and root out from the state in the early 20th century .
Opponents , meanwhile , contend that relinquish predators into the natural state beat a risk to livestock and could result in financial losses for Fannie Farmer . They can be reimbursed the marketplace value of the fauna , up to $ 15,000 , but many are still not glad with the programme .
The first hatful of 10 wolves was released in 2023 and at least two of them have been illegally shot by multitude . Others have been killed by natural cause , such as one wolf thatappears to have diedafter get into a fateful scuffle with a flock lion .
Colorado Parks and Wildlife points out that destruction is to be require among wild wolf populations . Inanother announcementabout a former wolf dying in April 2025 , the agency said the median lifetime of a gray brute in the Rocky Mountains is generally three to four years and masher survival in Colorado is “ within normal gross profit margin for a wolf universe in the Rocky Mountains . ”
Meanwhile , scientist are watching closely to see how the situation in Colorado will pan off out . A2024 studyby the Colorado State University looked at the reintroduction of wolf to Yellowstone ’s northern range and found that wreak back wolves and other apex predators is not a quick fix for restore ecosystem .
Even so , the researchers emphasized that their findings show the long - terminus ecological value ofwolves , which could have of import implications for Colorado .
" Our work supports the fact that Hugo Wolf are important components of ecosystem . They will have some ecosystem benefits by reducing some big herbivore populations . Over the next hundred years , they ’ll have a enceinte role in regulating some of the ecological processes that we ’ve been studying , " David Cooper , a enquiry scientist emeritus at Colorado State University , said in astatement .
