Colorado wolf found dead in Utah, the 20th to die since 2023 reintroduction

A female gray wolf brought to Colorado from British Columbia in January 2025 has died in Utah, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife. 

CPW confirmed a mortality alert from wolf 2516’s collar Nov. 7.

Multiple agencies are looking into the circumstances of the wolf’s death, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, CPW, the Utah Department of Natural Resources and local law enforcement across the Utah border. None of the agencies would describe the cause of death or give other details.

This marks the 20th wolf to die under CPW’s watch since reintroduction started in December 2023. Twenty five wolves were transplanted in two rounds. By mid-2026, 14 of the original wolves had died after being struck by vehicles, through capture-related complications, in legal traps, by other predators and in shooting deaths. 

CPW and state agents killed six wolves, some of them the offspring of the introduced animals, after they preyed on livestock multiple times. They include three shot in three days in early September. 

On Sept. 30, CPW announced it would temporarily suspend its directive that allows the killing of gray wolves that harass or kill livestock, over fears that population growth may not occur this biological year and possible evidence of an infectious parasite that could impact wolf survival in the future. 

Wildlife workers said the state’s population of gray wolves as of Sept. 24 totaled 45, including breeding adults, yearlings and 20 pups — a new state record.

The new death drops that number to 44. 

Pup survival in Colorado in 2025-2026 was high, with 82% of detected pups surviving their first year. 

But the agency says typical survival rates of pups range between 50% to 60% in Western wolf populations, “so this number will likely fall by the end of the biological year in March 2027.”