State officials announced Monday they have captured a pair of mating gray wolves and their four pups but, the male of the pack died from an infection unrelated to the trapping operation.

Known as the Copper Creek pack, the wolves were to be relocated to a “large, secure enclosure with limited human interaction,” according to a statement from Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The agency said in a Monday afternoon news conference they would not disclose the location, only that it has limited potential for human interaction.

The wolves remain under the “exclusive ownership” of the state’s wildlife agency, according to Director Jeff Davis. The four pups will be kept at the facility until they are fully grown and can be collared. 

This will give the agency the opportunity to release them into the wild together, Davis said.

The adult male, known as 2309-09 “was found in poor condition,” with several injuries to his right hind leg, unrelated to the capture. Its body weight was almost 30% less than it was when he was released in Grand County last December, the agency’s announcement said.

Davis said Monday that the male wolf, if he had survived, would have been placed in permanent captivity. 

Reid DeWalt of CPW told a wildlife and habitat roundtable Monday the wolf had deep puncture wounds on its back right leg and that the leg had atrophied, an indication it could no longer bear weight on the leg.

CPW staff administered antibiotics in an effort to address the infection, but four days after transport, the wolf team biologists received a mortality signal from his collar, and confirmed he had died.

“CPW staff believes that it was unlikely the wolf would have survived for very long in the wild,” and that officials intend to do a necropsy that will take 45 to 60 days, according to DeWalt.

Davis said the report will be released to the public.

As for the female wolf, Davis said they plan to re-release her and that she will be closely monitored.

The four pups were captured over three days with the last pup captured on Sept. 5. The pups were healthy but underweight, according to CPW.

According to the timeline provided by CPW, the female of the mating pair was caught on Aug. 24 and the male on Aug. 30. He died on Sept. 3. The four pups were captured between Sept. 3 and Sept. 5.

The agency said there was no evidence the pups were involved in any of the livestock depredation incidents in Grand County. The mating pair is believed responsible for the killing of at least 16 sheep and cattle in the Middle Park area of Grand County, beginning in April.

“CPW will continue to assess the female and pups’ health and advance plans to re-release them, as they will be adult-sized and able to hunt on their own or together in a pack,” the agency said. “This approach gives CPW the opportunity to release them into the wild together so they can contribute to wolf restoration in Colorado.”

Davis said in the Monday statement the wolf restoration plan “may not at times account for every unique situation the agency and our experts encounter.”

“This spring, after a pair of wolves established a den in Middle Park, the male adult wolf was involved in multiple depredations. Removing the male at that time, while he was the sole source of food and the female was denning, would likely have been fatal to the pups and counter to the restoration mandate,” Davis said.    

Davis added during the Monday news conference that “subsequent events led us to believe we needed to take additional action … it was a unique situation that demanded a unique response.”

This will help make sure the pups have a second chance in the wild, Davis said.

The operation was, in part, timed because this time of year, pups start hunting with the adults, and they didn’t want the pups hunting with the adults where they would key in on livestock, instead of their natural prey.

The statement also said Colorado’s wolf restoration plan stated that CPW will not relocate wolves with depredation histories into the wild within Colorado.

That’s contradicted by reports from Oregon — several of the wolves brought to Colorado came from packs in Oregon that had a history of depredation within months prior to their relocation to Colorado.

The big question is where the wolves will go. Wildlife officials aren’t saying.

Notably — and in stark contrast to how CPW handled communications with local officials and ranchers when the wolves were first released last December —  the agency said “CPW will have conversations with local elected officials and landowners in possible release areas before a release occurs.”

The mating pair is believed to be responsible for killing at least 16 sheep and cattle in Grand County, beginning last April and continuing into last weekend, according to area ranchers.

The wolves, which were caught by a trapper hired by Colorado Parks and Wildlife, are part of the the 10 that CPW brought to Grand and Summit counties last December from Oregon. One other wolf had died in what is believed to be the result of a mountain lion attack in Larimer County.

Eric O’Dell of CPW said Monday that natural mortality will always be a part of the wolf program, and that he is confident about the future for additional wolves to be released in the next few years.

The wolf plan calls for 10-15 more wolves to be released in Colorado in the northern region where the wolves were released last December. O’Dell said the agency is close to an agreement for procuring the next group of wolves.

“We’re doing well with our plans, “Davis said. “Have we had some challenges in Middle Park? Yes.”

He said there are still nine wolves out there “doing wolf things.”

Last month, CPW announced it would relocate the pair and their pups. 

“The decision to capture and relocate the Copper Creek pack was made with the careful consideration of multiple factors and feedback from many different stakeholders,” Davis said. “Our options in this unique case were very limited, and this action is by no means a precedent for how CPW will resolve wolf-livestock conflict moving forward. The ultimate goal of the operation is to relocate the pack to another location while we assess our best options for them to continue to contribute to the successful restoration of wolves in Colorado.”

In a statement Monday afternoon, Wild Earth Guardians criticized ranchers who have lost dozens of livestock to wolves, claiming they failed to implement “co-existence” measures. That claim was denied by ranchers, such as Don Gittleson of Walden, who has tried cracker shells, fladry — a type of flag tied to a fence — and other measures that he and other ranchers say don’t work. 

“The remainder of the Copper Creek family should be translocated back to the wild as soon as possible into deep country where livestock coexistence is prioritized from the get-go, and range riders are on the ground,” said Delaney Rudy of Wild Earth Guardians. “It isn’t fair that these highly-social animals have had their family disrupted by ineffective coexistence practices.”