{"id":33181,"date":"2025-07-24T07:25:19","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T07:25:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/33181\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T07:25:19","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T07:25:19","slug":"cause-of-death-released-for-2-of-colorados-gray-wolves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/33181\/","title":{"rendered":"Cause of death released for 2 of Colorado’s gray wolves"},"content":{"rendered":"

DENVER \u2014 The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has identified how two of Colorado’s reintroduced gray wolves died earlier this year.<\/p>\n

The department determined that a female wolf that was found deceased in Rocky Mountain National Park on April 20<\/a> had died of injuries from an apparent mountain lion attack, according to the Wednesday afternoon release from Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW). <\/p>\n

Another female wolf, this time in northwest Colorado, died on May 15<\/a> of an “apparent secondary trauma from a lawful foothold trap used for coyote control,” CPW reported. Because the trap was placed lawfully, no law enforcement action is required, CPW said. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Recent Denver7 wolf reintroduction coverage<\/p>\n

CPW explained that while Colorado law generally prohibits the use of foothold traps, individuals who own property for commercial livestock production \u2014 or their designated agents \u2014 can use the traps for a 30-day period if specific criteria are met. In this case, the criteria was satisfied and the permit was valid. When the person realized they had trapped a wolf, they notified CPW, which released the animal back into the wild. It died the following day, CPW said. <\/p>\n

In the wake of this, CPW said it has implemented a statewide suspension on issuing those 30-day permits for not just foothold traps, but also “instant-kill body-gripping design traps, or snares.” <\/p>\n

CPW said additional guidance is coming soon. <\/p>\n

The USFWS investigates all gray wolf deaths because the animals are a federally listed species under the Endangered Species Act. The USFWS is responsible for determining the cause of death.<\/p>\n

That department is still investigating the death of a male wolf on May 31 in northwest Colorado<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Six gray wolves, all translocated from British Columbia in January, have died<\/a> since they arrived in Colorado. However, CPW confirmed that the wolf survival rate in the state is “within normal margins,” as the average lifespan of a gray wolf in the Rocky Mountains is typically three to four years. <\/p>\n

The below list outlines an overview of the known wolf population in Colorado:<\/p>\n

Denver7 has been following Colorado’s wolf reintroduction program since the very beginning, and you can explore all of that reporting in the timeline below. The timeline starts with our most recent story.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"STEPHANIE<\/p>\n

Denver7 | Your Voice: Get in touch with Stephanie Butzer<\/p>\n

Denver7\u2019s Stephanie Butzer works on the digital team covering stories that have an impact on all of Colorado\u2019s communities, but specializes in reporting on the environment and outdoor recreation. If you\u2019d like to get in touch with Stephanie, fill out the form below to send her an email.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DENVER \u2014 The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has identified how two of Colorado’s reintroduced gray wolves…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[14235,14236,14237,14240,14241,14238,14242,14243,14244,14239,79,201],"class_list":["post-33181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-colorado-dead-wolf","tag-colorado-wolf","tag-colorado-wolf-british-columbia","tag-colorado-wolf-calving-season","tag-colorado-wolf-cattle","tag-colorado-wolf-cpw","tag-colorado-wolf-death","tag-colorado-wolf-death-rmnp","tag-colorado-wolf-death-utah","tag-colorado-wolf-oregon","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}