Over the last month, two of Colorado’s latest gray wolf transplants were killed after crossing the border into Wyoming. 

Colorado Parks and Wildlife expects these types of movements into other states from the reintroduced wolf population. The species is known for traveling long distances in search of food or mates. 
However, once the wolves leave Colorado, they lose certain protections afforded to them by both state and federal laws. But just how those protections change, and what might happen to them, depends entirely on which way they travel.

Heading north to Wyoming

In Colorado, gray wolves are considered “state endangered” in addition to being listed as endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act and as an experimental population under a special rule from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The endangered status makes it illegal to kill or harass the animals, except for with federal permission or circumstances allowed under the special rule. 

Wolves traveling north into Wyoming enter a state where they were removed from the federal Endangered Species Act in 2017 after restoration efforts in several Northern Rocky Mountain states. Wolf populations grew in this region following reintroduction efforts by the federal government in Yellowstone National Park and Idaho.   

Today, the majority of Wyoming falls under Wyoming Game and Fish Department predator control rules. In this area — which includes around 85% of the state including the portion bordering Colorado — wolves can be killed at any time without a license. 

It is illegal to hunt wolves in the state’s two national parks, Yellowstone and Grand Teton. However, in a small portion of the state’s northwest corner, the Wyoming wildlife agency classifies wolves as a “trophy game animal,” offering managed hunting options. It offers seasonal hunting in a small western region of the state.

Rachael Gonzales, Parks and Wildlife’s northwest region public information officer, said that due to the difference in management and federal listing, the Colorado agency does not have any agreement with Wyoming regarding the recapture of Colorado’s wolves.

Wyoming state law protects the identity of hunters who kill wolves legally in the state. The agency only releases aggregate data about how wolves are killed; not individual details. 

This Wyoming law has been cited in response to the death of a collared Colorado wolf in April. Parks and Wildlife announced that the wolf — a male brought from British Columbia in January — died on April 9 in Wyoming. The Colorado wildlife agency only stated that it coordinated the return of its tracking collar, but reported it could not share additional details about the death because of Wyoming state law and it does not “comment on wildlife movements, operations or regulations in other states.” 

This was the second wolf to die after entering Wyoming from Colorado in the last month. On March 16, it was reported that one of the wolves Parks and Wildlife brought from British Columbia was killed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services. According to a news release from CPW, the killing came in response to the death of five sheep in north-central Wyoming. Wildlife Services works with Wyoming Game and Fish as well as ranchers to help manage wolves in the state. 

Going west to Utah

It’s a different situation for wolves that head west into Utah. Parks and Wildlife has a joint agreement with Utah, New Mexico and Arizona in which any gray wolves from Colorado that enter these three states can be captured and returned to Parks and Wildlife. 

According to Gonzales, the agreement was put in place to “protect the genetic integrity of the Mexican wolf, a separately listed entity under the Federal Endangered Species Act.”

“The genetic uniqueness of the Mexican wolf would be compromised, and recovery made more difficult, if genetics of northern gray wolves were prematurely intermixed with the unique subspecies of gray wolves,” Gonzales said. 

In the U.S., Mexican wolves are listed as an endangered and experimental population in portions of New Mexico and Arizona. 

Faith Jolley, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources’s public information officer, confirmed there are no known Mexican wolves in Utah. Joining the agreement with these states helps the agency control wolves in an ever-evolving regulatory environment. In recent years, Fish and Wildlife and the courts have gone back and forth on delisting and relisting the species as endangered. The latest effort to delist in the lower 48 is being led by Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert in the U.S. House. 

“This inconsistent regulatory authority has been confusing and frustrating for Utah livestock producers, sportsmen and wildlife managers,” Jolley said. “Utah is concerned that unmanaged wolf populations can impact prey populations and prevent elk, deer, and moose from meeting management objectives. Under Endangered Species Act listing, livestock producers also have fewer options to protect their animals.”

None of the animals have traveled far enough south to enter either New Mexico or Arizona. And, while one of the Colorado collared wolves was reportedly close to the state border in Mesa County in January, none have entered Utah. 

Jolley reported that the Utah agency has coordinated with Parks and Wildlife so far. 

“They alert us when there is a GPS-tracked wolf that is getting close to the Utah border,” Jolley said. “If they migrate into Utah, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is prepared to capture and return the animals to Colorado.”

Gray wolves have different protections depending on where they are in Utah. The species were delisted from the Endangered Species Act in a northeastern portion of the state in the same ruling that delisted them in Wyoming. In the remainder of the state they are still listed as endangered under the federal act, with management falling to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

This grants the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources jurisdiction over gray wolves only where they are delisted — a corner north of Interstate 80 and east of Interstate 84 bordering Wyoming and Idaho. Here, wolves are managed by a management plan, which guides conflict mitigation, conservation and research of wolves that enter the state. 

In this area, wolves are still “considered a protected species,” Jolley said. 

“As such, it is still not legal to hunt wolves in Utah currently, and there are narrow circumstances where a wolf could be killed in that area,” Jolley said. 

Even though it has a management plan in place, Utah has very few gray wolves. 

“Although there have been confirmed wolf sightings over the years — and rare instances of wolf-related livestock depredation — there are no known established packs in Utah,” Jolley said.