Federal agency kills collared Colorado wolf suspected of killing sheep in Wyoming
Five sheep had been killed and investigators found evidence of wolf presence, including wolf tracks and bite marks on carcasses consistent with wolves.
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A federal agency killed one of Colorado’s newest collared wolves after the apex predator wandered into Wyoming and was suspected of killing sheep, government officials confirmed Thursday.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services killed the wolf on Saturday after connecting it to a report of livestock depredations on private land in north-central Wyoming, USDA spokeswoman Tanya Espinosa said in an email Thursday.
Five sheep had been killed and investigators found evidence of wolf presence, including wolf tracks and bite marks on carcasses consistent with wolves.
“Closer examination showed the wolf had a collar from Colorado Parks and Wildlife,” Espinosa said.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife on Sunday received a mortality alert from the collar of one of the wolves relocated in January from Canada to Colorado, the agency said in a news release. The wolf was a male with collar identification 2505-BC.
Gray wolves are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act in Colorado, but lose those protections if they wander into other states where they are not federally protected, like much of Wyoming.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department has jurisdiction over the gray wolf population outside of the boundaries of the two national parks in the state and the Wind River Indian Reservation.
In the northwest corner of the state, the species is managed as a trophy game species and killing of the animals is controlled by hunting regulations. In the vast majority of the state, however, gray wolves are classified as predators and can be killed year-round without a license.
USDA’s Wildlife Services works with farmers and ranchers to abate damage caused by wildlife, such as beavers flooding fields and predators killing livestock. The service can relocate or kill wolves killing livestock, according to its website.
In 2023, the service killed 305 gray wolves and relocated 64 more across seven states in the Rocky Mountains and Great Lakes regions, according to agency data.
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