Colorado wolf likely died after fight with another wolf

The death of an adult male wolf in September was likely the result of a fight with another wolf, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

Colorado Parks and Wildlife received a mortality signal from the wolf’s collar on Sept. 9 in Grand County. The death of the adult male wolf — one of those that was brought in from Oregon in December — was confirmed the next day. Following the incident, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began conducting an investigation to determine the cause of death. 

This was not the male wolf associated with the Copper Creek pack that died after being captured in early September.

On Friday, Nov. 8, a spokesperson from the federal agency said the wolf died from “injuries consistent with a fight, likely involving another wolf.”

While the full necropsy report will not be available until next week, the necropsy showed the wolf had suffered trauma “typical of wounds caused by wolves and other canids and preliminary analysis of hair samples collected from the scene further supports the involvement of another wolf.” 

The agency also noted that the wolf had suffered a gunshot wound on its rear leg, but that it was an old and healed wound. 

Further, the wolf was found to be in “good nutritional condition at the time of death,” the spokesperson stated. 

This wolf was found dead four days after Colorado Parks and Wildlife completed the capture of six wolves in the Copper Creek pack in the same county. A fifth wolf pup was discovered to be in the area three weeks later, evading secondary capture attempts by the state agency in late September and early October. 

The adult male tied to the Copper Creek pack died on Sept. 3 in captivity, four days after his capture on Aug. 30. When captured, the male was severely malnourished and had suffered an injury — and had deep puncture wounds — on his hind leg. At the time, Eric Odell, Parks and Wildlife’s wolf conservation program manager, told the media that it was “probably another carnivore-type animal attack” and likely not a human-related injury. 

While the Fish and Wildlife Service is also conducting the necropsy on this wolf, the agency has no further information on the death or a timeline for when the investigation will be complete. 

The first of the three deaths among Colorado’s reintroduced wolves occurred in mid-April following a mountain lion attack.