Colorado has 32 wolves in the wild, report says

Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) issued its Gray Wolf Annual Report for biological year 2025-2026 from April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026, and provided an update on the gray wolf restoration program to the Parks and Wildlife Commission.

CPW biologists have identified a minimum population count of 32 gray wolves. Of the 32 wolves identified in Colorado, 24 are members of established packs (10 adults and 14 pups) with the remaining eight representing dispersing adult wolves.

The report also outlines the 10 mortalities experienced amongst adult gray wolves in Colorado, three of which are still under investigation by USFWS or CPW.

“Pup recruitment into the wolf population this year was very high, which is a sign of wolves’ ability to find one another, pair, reproduce, and make a go of it in Colorado, ” said Wolf Conservation Program Manager Eric Odell. “While we do not know what the future will hold, this is an encouraging sign of the biological success of our program and displays a positive trend in our wolf population size.”

This year’s report includes detailed information about pack composition for each of the four established packs in Colorado including minimum winter adult and pup counts, collared wolf ID numbers and minimum convex polygons of pack territories.

“As packs are established and territories developed we are able to gain and share more insight into Colorado’s gray wolf population,” said Dr. Brenna Cassidy, wolf monitoring and data coordinator. “There will always be wolves who are not part of packs, and in the future they are likely to be uncollared wolves. As the population expands CPW will aim to maintain two GPS collars in each established pack to help track pack activity and territory as outlined in the Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan.”