Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff observed a new litter of wolf pups while monitoring four separate dens, the state agency confirmed.

The announcement comes amid ongoing debates about how to manage the Copper Creek pack, which has been linked to dozens of livestock deaths.

A spokesman did not say where the pups were sighted or how many but said staff were working to “get minimum counts of pups by both direct observations and indirect methods.”

It’s also unknown whether the mating pairs are from the wolves brought in from Oregon in 2023 or from British Columbia earlier this year.

Last year, four pups born to a mating pair, identified as part of the Copper Creek pack, were captured and relocated from Grand County to a sanctuary in southeastern Colorado. They were then transferred, in January, to Pitkin and Eagle counties, along with the Canadian wolves. One of the yearling wolves was later killed by CPW staff after it was determined to be responsible for killing livestock on three ranches in Pitkin County last month.

Colorado wildlife officials kill wolf linked to multiple livestock attacks

Ranchers have said the yearling wolves learned to go after livestock from the mating pair, and on Thursday, that led a CPW commissioner to make a motion to have the entire pack removed, up to and including by lethal force, from Pitkin County.

Commissioner Tai Jacober is a rancher in Pitkin County and said Wednesday he has seen wolves on his property, and neighboring ranches have lost cattle to wolves over Memorial Day weekend.

He was thwarted in his effort to have the Copper Creek pack removed by Commission Chair Dallas May, who initially ruled it out of order. CPW Director Jeff Davis pointed out that any action of that type would require a discussion first with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, given that wolves are still considered an endangered species in Colorado.

After a lengthy discussion, the commission voted to hold a special meeting before its next regularly scheduled meeting in July, allowing more time to discuss with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and to decide on a course of action regarding the Copper Creek pack.

Jacober, while at one point suggesting lethal removal, also discussed moving them to a sanctuary, which is where the wolves were placed last year after numerous attacks on livestock in Grand County.

The effort to do something about the Copper Creek pack, which is believed to be responsible for killing or injuring dozens of livestock in Grand and Pitkin counties, followed comments from Commissioner Murphy Robinson of Denver on Wednesday, who questioned the role of the commission in dealing with the problem.

Robinson said that the issue determines the role of the board.

“What can we do as a policy board?” he said.

Complaining about the wolf problem month after month takes a toll and doesn’t reveal anything about the commission’s role, he said. If the commission doesn’t clarify the policy and its role, these problems would continue to surface year after year, Robinson warned.

Commissioners complained on Wednesday that they’re dealing with the same problems with the wolves as they had last year.

Jacober said CPW staff decisions to move the Copper Creek pack to Pitkin County went against the commission-approved wolf management plan, which states that the “translocation of depredating wolves to a different part of the state will not be considered, as this is viewed as translocating the problem along with the wolves.”

That’s precisely what happened with the Copper Creek pack, Jacober indicated.

This is not only a “blunder” for the agency, it’s also a blunder for the wolves, and it’s been difficult for the ranchers, he said.

“We need to be accountable for a mistake that we’ve made by putting this depredating pack back on the landscape, and make a quick, fast discussion about how to move forward with clearly, unfortunately, a bad pack of animals. And I think that if we don’t deal with a chronic depredating pack, it’s just going to continue to kind of rub on all of us and on the program and make it unsuccessful,” he said.

Public comments on Thursday came from county and state elected officials, ranchers and wolf advocates to discuss the problem and to respond to Robinson’s comments about what the commission ought to do.

Garfield County Commissioner Perry Will, who was a wildlife officer with CPW for more than 20 years, told the commission, “You’re failing the wolves” and the CPW staff. The program’s failure has strained relationships between ranchers and the CPW field staff, he said, adding, itt’s also hindering a relationship that requires CPW to rely on private landowners for conservation of wildlife habitat.

“It seems like a ‘ready, shoot, aim,'” process, Will said. “At this point, no one gets to take a victory lap on reintroduction.”

Will also said the whole process has resulted in “political interference from non-wildlife biologists that is allowing wolves to die. You’re failing the voters. Not only are you failing Coloradans, you’re also failing the wolves.”

John Swartout, most recently the executive director of Colorado Counties Inc., who said he has spent 30 years working with CPW, told the commission that its role is “to stop the political interference from the governor to direct policy.”

Swartout said that if the reintroduction had been left to Davis and the people at CPW, “we wouldn’t be here today having this discussion. Every commission has pushed back against governors that overreach,” going back to Gov. Roy Romer, he said. 

“Step up!” he said. “Do your job.”

That includes protecting Davis and the senior leadership team, Swartout said.

He reminded the commission that it is a “type one agency” within the state government, meaning it has a certain amount of independence from the executive branch.

“How will you do wildlife conservation on wildlife habitat without private landowners?” he asked.

“That’s the casualty of allowing politics to interfere with your job as a type one agency,” Swartout added — to applause from the audience.

Middle Park ranchers Conway Farrell and Doug Bruchez, both of whom have lost livestock to wolves, also spoke in support of the Pitkin County ranchers and in favor of dealing with the Copper Creek pack.

“These wolves were problem wolves in Oregon,” Bruchez told the commissioners. “The stress on CPW staff and producers has irreversible consequences.”

He added that, while not all wolves are causing problems, “coexistence is not possible with problem wolves.”

Farrell, who said his ranch was the “epicenter” of the wolf depredations last year, said both the mating pair and the pups attacked his livestock, based on a sworn statement from a veterinarian who found small bite marks on one of his lambs, too small to be from an adult wolf.

“CPW knew the Copper Creek female and pups depredated on our ranch and should never have been moved to another ranch,” Farrell said.

Jacober’s statements on Wednesday drew support from ranchers and other members of the public, including from ranchers who said they had had harsh words with Jacober just the day before.

“He’s getting it,” said Ginny Harrington, who represents the Holy Cross Cattlemen’s Association, whose livestock was attacked by the Copper Creek wolves over Memorial Day weekend.

“We don’t want to see the wolves go away,” she said. “We want to see the bad wolves go away.”

Renee Deal, a sheep rancher, has also seen wolves on her land, added, “You don’t know until you’re in it.”

Deal thanked both Jacober and Commissioner Marie Haskett for having a “backbone of steel.”

Thursday’s meeting was the last official one for Haskett. It’s also the last for Commissioner Karen Bailey, who was not reappointed, and who has been seen as a mediator between the pro-wolf and ranching communities.

In a 2022 report, Bailey said she was happy to work with a variety of interests on wolf restoration, “but I also want to hear the voices of those most likely to be impacted and influenced” such as ranchers and farmers.

“My agenda, if I have one, is really understanding and supporting equitable and transparent processes,” Bailey said.