At least one of Colorado’s 11 wild wolves entered the watershed surrounding Vail in the last month, according to a new map released Wednesday showing where the canines traveled recently.
Wolves also traveled near Interstate 70 and the heart of Summit County between April 23 and May 21.
Each month, Colorado Parks and Wildlife releases a map showing which watersheds the state’s 11 known wolves have traveled in. The wolf may or may not remain there, and it may not have traversed every part of that watershed, CPW says.
Each of the wolves wears a collar that records their location every four hours, though two of the collars placed on the wolves released in December as part of the state’s voter-mandated reintroduction effort have failed. Those two wolves are traveling with others, allowing state CPW to continue to track them, the agency said.
One of the 10 wolves reintroduced in December was found dead in Larimer County on April 18. Colorado Parks and Wildlife data shows at least one other wolf has been in the county recently, west of Red Feather Lakes.
A necropsy completed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service indicated the dead wolf was killed by another animal, likely a mountain lion.
Since the December reintroduction, wolves have killed or injured at least nine cattle in Grand and Jackson counties, according to CPW.
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Correction: This story was updated on May 23 to correct information about the wolves’ locations. No wolves traveled south of I-70 in May.
