A Colorado wolf that died in May was likely hit by a car, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced on Tuesday.
On June 2, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) said it had received a mortality signal from the wolf's GPS collar on May 31. The animal was found deceased in northwest Colorado.
The wolf had been brought to Colorado from Canada as part of the January 2025 reintroduction, CPW confirmed to the Scripps News Group. It was the fifth wolf from the original 15 released that month that died.
Gray wolves are a federally listed species under the Endangered Species Act, so the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigated the cause of its death.
On Tuesday, the agency said the wolf died of blunt force trauma, likely from a car crash.
Neither CPW nor USFWS had any further information to share about the wolf's death.
Colorado's wolf reintroduction management plan lists the goal of translocating 10 to 15 wolves per year for a total of 30 to 50 wolves over three to five years. This is expected to continue in January 2026.
After that point, the active reintroduction efforts will stop and CPW will focus solely on monitoring to see if the population is self-sustaining.
Denver7 in-depth wolf coverage
The below list outlines an overview of the known wolf population in Colorado:
- Six wolves surviving from the original 10 that were released in December 2023 (one died of a likely mountain lion attack, a second died from injuries sustained prior to his capture as part of the Copper Creek Pack relocation effort, a third wolf became sickly and died, and a fourth died in Wyoming)
- Three of the five wolf pups born in the spring of 2024 (one male was killed by CPW after multiple depredations in Pitkin County and a second male was killed for the same reasons in September)
- 10 wolves surviving from the 15 that were released in January 2025 (one was shot and killed by Wildlife Services in Wyoming, a second died of unknown causes in Wyoming, a third died in Rocky Mountain National Park, a fourth died in northwest Colorado and the fifth died in northwest Colorado after it was likely hit by a car)
- Unknown number of pups born in four packs in 2025
- Two wolves that moved south from Wyoming several years ago
- One uncollared wolf that was last known to be in northwest Moffat County in mid-February. It is not clear if it is alive or still in the state.
- Possible, but unconfirmed, wolf in the Browns Park area as of February. It is not clear if it is alive or still in the state.
The Scripps News Group 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.
