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By Alia Shoaib
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Colorado's collared gray wolves may have traveled into Wyoming. That's according to a map that tracks the animals' activity.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife reintroduced 10 wolves into Colorado in December in a controversial move designed to bring back a species that historically inhabited the region.
The department's Collared Gray Wolf Activity Map displays in purple the areas where wolf activity has been recorded. It shows where wolves have been in the past month within watersheds, using this method of tracking because wolves respond more to geographic features than political boundaries.
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On the latest map, which depicts the collared wolves' movements between April 23 and May 21, the purple areas appear to extend beyond the top of the map from Colorado's Jackson County into Wyoming to the north.
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The first map, dated December 18, 2023, to January 22, 2024, shows wolf activity detected only within Colorado's borders.
In an emailed statement, Rachael Gonzales, the Northwest Region Public Information Officer of Colorado Parks and Wildlife told Newsweek: "The distance the wolves have moved so far is consistent with what was anticipated when creating Colorado's Gray Wolf Restoration and Management Plan."
"Taking these types of big movements into consideration, releases in Colorado occurred a minimum of 60 miles from the northern border with Wyoming, the western border with Utah, the southern border of New Mexico, as well as a similar buffer, as requested by the Tribes, of sovereign tribal lands in southwestern Colorado."
The roving wolves are at the center of a conflict between ranchers and state wildlife agencies in Colorado and Wyoming.
Ranchers on both sides have complained about their cattle being killed by wolves, but it is unclear whether the recently reintroduced wolves in Colorado are responsible, rather than wolves that were already in Wyoming.
Retired Wyoming Game and Fish Department Game Warden Duanne Kerr told Cowboy State Daily that it was arbitrary to try and differentiate between Colorado and Wyoming wolves.
"If a wolf in Wyoming crosses into Colorado, it becomes a Colorado wolf," Kerr said. "That's the way state laws work on wildlife."
One differentiation is that wolves in Colorado are protected under the Endangered Species Act, but they are not in Wyoming, and therefore can be hunted.
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Colorado's wolf reintroduction effort was approved by voters in a statewide ballot in 2020 as part of a measure known as 'Proposition 114,' narrowly passing 50.91 percent to 49.09 percent.
Proponents of the move said it would restore balance by bringing the animals into their natural habitat.
Critics included ranchers afraid of their animals being preyed on by wolves and hunting groups concerned that game herds of species like elk would be lowered.
Republican Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert at the time described the plan as "ill-advised" and said it would be "bad" for the state.
One of the released wolves was found dead in Colorado's Larimer County on April 18, and officials said that the cause of death was likely a mountain lion attack.
Update 05/30/24 3:18 p.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Rachael Gonzales.
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