\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2024-08-19-at-3.28.03E280AFPM-1024x577.png\")
The first wolf pups born to Colorado reintroduced wolves were caught on video in 2024. Prior to Colorado Parks and Wildlife sharing the video on Monday, Aug. 19, there was only evidence of one wolf pup in the Copper Creek Pack.
Mike Usalavage\/Courtesy video<\/p>\n
While Colorado\u2019s wolf restoration<\/a> has now seen 25 wolves released and four packs formed, one group in particular has dominated the discourse: the Copper Creek pack.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Vail Daily recently sat down with Jeff Davis, the director of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, to discuss all things wolves<\/a>, including what\u2019s been going on with the Copper Creek wolf pack.<\/p>\n The pack\u2019s founding wolves carried some controversy from the moment they were brought from Oregon to Colorado. While the female, 2312, did not have a known pack in Oregon and no suspected history of depredation, the male, 2309, came from Oregon\u2019s Wenaha Pack, which had been involved in a confirmed depredation two months before his relocation to Colorado.\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite the agency\u2019s insistence that wolves with recent histories of depredation wouldn\u2019t be considered for relocation, the male was relocated to Colorado. In a 2024 document released<\/a> by the agency about the pack, Parks and Wildlife indicated that the pack was not chronically depredating, and the technical working group\u2019s recommendations within the wolf plan<\/a> said packs with \u201cinfrequent depredation events\u201d should not be excluded for relocation.\u00a0<\/p>\n Around the time the pair had pups in 2024<\/a>, the wolves were connected to repeated livestock attacks in Grand County, prompting Parks and Wildlife to capture<\/a> and relocate the animals to a sanctuary.<\/p>\n The pack\u2019s original patriarch \u2014 which Davis said in the recent interview was \u201cno doubt involved in the majority of those depredations\u201d \u2014 died in the sanctuary<\/a> from injuries relating to a gunshot wound<\/a> obtained before capture. This poaching incident is still being investigated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.\u00a0<\/p>\n During these 2024 depredations, Davis said that the \u201cfemale was in the den or couldn\u2019t travel far from the den\u201d due to the pups\u2019 age at the time.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWas she likely involved in some depredations? Sure,\u201d Davis said. \u201cDid we have a chronic depredation definition? No. Looking back at the incidents there, she would not have triggered the chronic depredation definition (three depredations in 30 days) in that space.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In the wake of the incidents in Grand County and with repeated requests from Colorado producers, the agency did convene a stakeholder group to aid in crafting a definition for chronic depredation<\/a> as well as the set of circumstances that merit the agency to kill one of the pack\u2019s members.\u00a0<\/p>\n In January, Parks and Wildlife released the matriarch and four pups<\/a> from the sanctuary in Pitkin County, against the wolf plan\u2019s recommendation that \u201cthe translocation of depredating wolves to a different part of the state will not be considered, as this is viewed as translocating the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n At a July 1 legislative hearing about the wolf program<\/a>, Davis said, \u201cThat decision on Copper Creek was mine and mine alone\u201d and admitted it was one he questions every day.\u00a0<\/p>\n Repeatedly since it occurred, Davis has reiterated that the decision was spurred by unique circumstances \u2014 particularly with the presence of pups \u2014 often calling it a perfect storm, and would not dictate how the agency managed similar situations in the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n The controversial decision has only been heightened by the pack\u2019s behavior in Pitkin County since their January release. The matriarch has since bred with another male wolf. And in May, wolves in the pack were tied to four livestock attacks in eight days<\/a>, meeting Parks and Wildlife\u2019s definition of chronic depredation. As such, the agency killed one of the pack\u2019s yearlings<\/a> tied to the attacks in an attempt to change the group\u2019s behavior.\u00a0<\/p>\n The goal, Davis said, was to encourage the animals away from regular interactions with livestock and more toward native ungulates.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, following the yearling\u2019s death, producers have witnessed further harassment of livestock<\/a> by the Copper Creek wolves, and in July, Parks and Wildlife confirmed a wolf in the pack was responsible for the death of a calf. This marked the pack\u2019s seventh confirmed incident this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n This told the agency that the pack has not been deterred from regularly pursuing livestock and required more work to do so, Davis said.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/July-Pitkin-Depredation-mother-1024x826.jpeg\")
The mother of a calf, that Colorado Parks and Wildlife determined was killed by a wolf, stands by as agency officials perform a necropsy on the calf on July 18 in Pitkin County. Officials believe that the Copper Creek wolf pack was responsible for the calf\u2019s death. Chris Collins\/Courtesy Photo<\/p>\n