A Colorado wolf has been reintroduced into Grand County after crossing into New Mexico, according to a news release from Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish captured gray wolf 2403 and returned the animal to Colorado.
Officials chose to release the wolf in Grand County yesterday because the area is near an unpaired female gray wolf, has suitable prey, and is distant from livestock, the release noted.
Tammy Clellan, acting director of CPW, said, “Gray wolf 2403 has been returned to Colorado and released in a location where it can best contribute to CPW’s efforts to establish a self-sustaining wolf population while concurrently attempting to minimize potential wolf-related livestock conflicts.”
The wolf previously belonged to the Copper Creek pack but left it this fall.
A memorandum of understanding among Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah requires that gray wolves that leave Colorado and enter those states be returned. The agreement aims to protect the genetic integrity of the Mexican wolf recovery program while also fostering the development of a gray wolf population in Colorado.
Eric Odell, CPW’s Wolf Conservation Program Manager, noted that the planning process acknowledged the need to balance preserving the Mexican wolf recovery program’s genetics with the goal of establishing a distinct gray wolf population in Colorado."
