DENVER (KDVR) — On Wednesday, Colorado Parks and Wildlife announced that three new wolf packs had formed in the state from wolves reintroduced to the area in 2023 and 2025.
On Thursday, CPW shared footage from a game camera that shows three wolf pups playing in a sun-dappled clearing. The agency said the pups are part of the King Mountain Pack, which is located in Routt County.
The other three packs in the state are the Copper Creek Pack, established in 2024 and located in Pitkin County; the One Ear Pack in Jackson County; and the Three Creeks Pack in Rio Blanco County. The Copper Creek Pack had four pups last year but was captured and re-released after repeated depredations on nearby ranches.
In June last year, CPW biologists announced that they had seen a gray wolf pup — believed to be the first seen that was born to reintroduced wolves. Biologists say that typically, wolves have four to six pups in each litter.
CPW said Thursday that it only recognizes wolf packs after a breeding pair reproduces, and said that staff have seen pups at some of the dens. Currently, there is no confirmed pup count for all of the packs.
“We are continuing to monitor four dens in Colorado and will include minimum counts of the entire wolf population in our annual biological year reports,” said Eric Odell, CPW’s Wolf Conservation Program Manager. “Receiving reports of wolf sightings from the public – especially with high quality photos or video – is extremely helpful to CPW as we monitor and track the movement of gray wolves. This will become increasingly important as the population of uncollared wolves grows through successful restoration and natural immigration into Colorado.”
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