Reintroduced Colorado gray wolf dies in Utah, Parks and Wildlife says

Katie Langford, The Denver Post on Nov 14, 2026

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DENVER — Federal officials are looking into the circumstances surrounding one of Colorado’s reintroduced gray wolves that died in Utah last week, Colorado Parks and Wildlife said Friday.

State wildlife officials received a mortality alert for wolf 2516, a female, on Nov. 7, the agency said in a news release. The cause of death is unknown.

Wolf 2516 was one of 15 gray wolves captured in Canada and released in Colorado in January 2025. Since release, the gray wolf traveled 9,000 miles throughout Colorado and into neighboring states, Parks and Wildlife officials said.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service is looking into the death alongside Parks and Wildlife and the Utah Department of Natural Resources.

Parks and Wildlife has released 25 wolves into the state since the voter-mandated reintroduction process began in 2023. State biologists estimate there are at least 45 wolves in the state, including pups born to the reintroduced wolves, and this is at least the 18th wolf that has died or been killed so far.

State wildlife officials this fall said the agency would temporarily stop killing wolves that prey on livestock over concerns about the species’ faltering population in Colorado.

The move sparked condemnation from the Colorado Farm Bureau, the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association, the Colorado Livestock Association, the Colorado Wool Growers Association and the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union.

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