The female wolf of the mating pair for the King Mountain pack has died, bringing total fatalities to 14 out of the 25 animals reintroduced in Colorado.

The wolf, identified as No. 2310, was among the 10 wolves brought to Colorado from Oregon in December 2023.

The male of the King Mountain pack mating pair had died in January in Routt County following a botched collaring operation conducted by a Colorado Parks and Wildllife contractor. That operation drew criticism from wolf advocates at the March 5 parks and wildlife commission meeting. Advocates claimed the effort was reckless and that the contractor hired was a “bargain basement contractor who had a history of deaths” in similar efforts.

State wildlife authorities did not mention the male’s death in the announcement Friday. The wildlife agency had announced the birth of pups to the mating pair — the group became the King Mountain pack — last July. It’s unknown how many pups are in the pack.

Authorities did not identify either the cause of the female’s death nor where it took place. Colorado Parks and Wildlife will conduct an investigation, along with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the announcement said.

Of the 25 wolves relocated to Colorado — 10 from Oregon in December 2023 and 15 from British Columbia in January 2025 — 14 have now died, a survival rate of 44%. Another wolf, a yearling from the Copper Creek pack, was killed by wildlife staff after it preyed on multiple sheep in Rio Blanco County.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s wolf management plan directs the agency to examine the relocation efforts if survival rates dropped below 70%. The technical working group that helped develop the plan said “wolf populations can sustain 25-30% annual mortality while maintaining a stable or increasing population.”

The agency also announced this week it was suspending a recent month-long effort to track down and kill another of the Copper Creek yearlings that had been repeatedly killing livestock, also in Rio Blanco County.

The wolf killed five lambs and a ewe in late July and early August. According to the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, citing state reports, the same wolf was believed to be responsible for more livestock attacks in October and November, as well as an attack on 11 sheep in January.

The wolf was shot last July by wildlife staff but the body was never found. The agency has been trying to find the wolf since then and, between Jan.24 and Feb. 22, used drones and thermal imaging to find the wolf, which was unsuccessful.

“With no snow on the ground in the area and challenging terrain, we are choosing to suspend this effort,” said CPW Director Laura Clellan on Thursday. The agency didn’t say whether it would restart efforts anytime soon.

The state’s most recent wolf map shows the remaining 11 collared wolves are becoming more active in southern Colorado, along the Continental Divide and as far east as Pueblo County and as far south as the San Luis Valley. The map shows where wolves are in a watershed area and not specific locations.

Meanwhile, the state has now paid more than $724,000 in compensation to ranchers who lost livestock to wolves or saw lower reproduction and market weights in 2025. That’s more than double the amount of money available in the state’s general fund-supported wolf compensation fund, which means the agency will have to tap other pots, such as non-license fees or federal dollars, to cover the rest. Compensating ranchers is required by law.

The CPW commission approved $706,000 in compensation during its March meetings; the agency told Colorado Politics that there was another $18,000 in claims approved prior to the meeting.

Agency officials told a joint meeting of the House and Senate agriculture committees it received more than $1 million in claims for producer losses due to wolves for 2025.

Wolf advocates had filed a petition last month with the CPW Commission to ask for rulemaking that would restrict or eliminate the compensation for reproduction and market weight losses.

Erin Karney Spaur, executive vice president of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association, told Colorado Politics this week when wolves were relocated, “we knew there would be direct losses but there’s also indirect losses that aren’t even accounted for. (The compensation) is not making any rancher whole,” she said.

That’s primarily for calves that just disappear when wolves are in the area, which, Spaur said, was what happened in Pitkin and Eagle counties last year.

Cows are now so stressed by wolves that their breeding cycles are a month late, she said, adding that’s a problem that will be compounded over the next two to three years.

As to the efforts by wolf advocates to prevent compensation for indirect losses, Spaur said they’re trying to take back what they promised.

“Our biggest frustration is that the goalposts just keep moving. As soon as we meet one, it gets changed,” she said.