Skip to content

Monday, Apr. 13, 2026

Have humans killed at least 4 of the wolves restored to Colorado?

Cassis Tingley, The Colorado Sun
yes

At least five of the 25 gray wolves reintroduced to Colorado through a plan approved by Colorado voters in 2020 have been killed by humans since 2024. 

Two of the wolves, numbers 2305 and 2309, were part of the initial transfer of 10 wolves from Oregon in 2023. The other three, numbers 2505, 2512, and 2507, were brought from Canada in 2025. Colorado Parks and Wildlife also fatally shot one male pup that was descended from the 2023 cohort after it attacked livestock in Pitkin County.

One wolf died after getting caught in a legal foot-trap; one was hit by a vehicle; one died of “capture-related” complications; one was illegally shot; and one was killed by Wyoming state officials after it crossed into the state and killed five sheep there.

Gray wolves are an endangered species in Colorado. Twelve of the 25 wolves reintroduced to the state have died.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

About fact briefs

Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by newsrooms in the Gigafact network.

See all fact briefs

The Colorado Sun is a journalist-founded, award-winning and nonprofit news outlet based in Denver that strives to cover all of Colorado so that our state — our community — can better understand itself. In this way, we believe we can contribute to a more vibrant, informed and whole Colorado. We are committed to fact-based, in-depth and nonpartisan journalism. We cover everything from politics and culture to the outdoor industry and education. Our goal is to produce the best possible journalism. We do that with the help of you, our readers, and community backers. We launched on Sept. 10, 2018.

Learn More

Latest Fact Briefs

Be a Friend of facts

Help us fund more great fact briefs like this one.