DENVER—A female wolf from the Yellowstone region has roamed about 1,000 miles and is thought to be wandering Colorado’s central mountains.
State wildlife officials say a GPS collar on the 18-month-old gray wolf indicated her last known position was in Eagle County, about 120 miles west of Denver. The location was recorded in mid-February.
Federal biologists say the wolf broke from her pack just north of Yellowstone National Park in September and traveled through Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah and Colorado.
“Young wolves often cover remarkable distances looking for a mate and a new territory,” state Division of Wildlife Director Tom Remington said Wednesday. “If this wolf doesn’t find a pack, she’ll likely keep moving.”
This is at least the second time a Yellowstone-area wolf has made it to Colorado. A young female wolf wearing a radio collar was hit and killed by a vehicle on Interstate 70 near Idaho Springs, west of Denver, in June 2004.
There have been other unconfirmed reported sightings of wolves in Colorado. In 2006, state wildlife officers spotted and caught on video what biologists believe was a wolf in the northern part of the state.
Colorado Wildlife Division spokesman Tyler Baskfield said it was never determined whether the animal was a wolf.
The wolf is an endangered species and can’t be killed or harassed without federal approval.
Wolves are native to Colorado but were wiped out by the 1930s after ranchers, government agents and others shot, trapped and poisoned the predator.
“I think it’s great news,” Rob Edward of WildEarth Guardians said of the wandering wolf.
Edward’s group supports restoring wolves to Colorado and has suggested releasing them in Rocky Mountain National Park to naturally thin the elk herd that biologists say is too large and has damaged habitat by overgrazing.
Thirty-three elk were recently shot or euthanized in the first round of the park’s plan to reduce the herd size.
“Western Colorado is primarily public land,” Edward said. “Why shouldn’t we have wolves wandering around, doing that they’re supposed to do, which is keep the deer and elk on the move?”
The Yellowstone wolf’s trek to Colorado shows there is a “tenuous, though valuable connection between Colorado and the Northern Rockies wolf population,” Edward said.
“We want this wolf to have friends,” added Edward, a member of a state task force that made recommendations on wolf management.
The latest wolf to visit Colorado, known as 314F, was caught and collared by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks in research conducted with the University of Montana to improve wolf-monitoring techniques. The data provided by her collar has allowed researchers to track her journey through the Rockies.
According to satellite data, the wolf passed south through Yellowstone National Park and the Bridger-Teton National Forest in western Wyoming southeast of Pinedale. She then went through southwestern Wyoming, southeast Idaho and northeastern Utah before crossing into Colorado within the past two weeks.
The wolf is now 450 miles from its origin, but has traveled at least 1,000 miles overall.
