What it looked like as Colorado wildlife officials released 5 Oregon wolves in Grand County

GRAND COUNTY — The wolf loped through the snowy meadow into a copse of aspens, her fur blending with the browns, grays and whites of the remote corner of state land.

She turned for a moment to look back at the collection of about 45 people gathered around the crates before trotting into the forest. In the meadow of spruce, pinion and aspens, Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials released five wolves Monday morning in Grand County.

It was the first time a state — not the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — had introduced an endangered species into wildland in the U.S. It was the culmination of more than three years of work after Colorado voters in 2020 directed Colorado Parks and Wildlife to reintroduce wolves to the Western Slope by the end of 2023. 

While momentous and historic, the occasion was bigger than five wolves, said Joanna Lambert, a professor of wildlife ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado.

“This is a moment of re-wilding,” she said. “Of doing something to stave off the biodiversity extinction crisis we are living in … to make a difference in this era of extinction. And moreover, this is a source of hope not only for all of us standing here but for our younger generations as well.”

Lambert said she lost her breath when she saw the wolves gallop into the woods. For years, Lambert and wolf advocates have been working to get wolf “paws on the ground” and she felt herself gasp when “all the sudden, it happened.”

“It was exquisite in every way,” she said. 

The animals — two male and two female yearlings under 100 pounds and one older, 108-pound male from three different packs — were captured Sunday in Oregon and flown to Colorado early Monday morning. They spent less than a day in the metal crates.

Wildlife officers, many of them with holstered guns on their hips, flanked the crates. A few held handle-mounted sheets of plywood to keep the animals from turning into the crowd. A few officers held their phones toward the crates. There were cameras positioned in front of the crates and to the side. A drone buzzed overhead. 

For the first release, a 76-pound mottled gray-and-brown male darted from the crate but slowed to a lope as he followed a track up a small hill. A gray female — sister to the first male — took some time to saunter out of the cage and turned atop a small hill to look back.

The next two were another pair of siblings from the same pack. When the door swung open for the crate holding a 93-pound juvenile male, he didn’t move.  Officers opened the door for the second crate and a gray-brown, 76-pound female bounded through the grass, glancing sideways and backward as she trotted into the woods. The male, after several minutes, finally bounded from the cage.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife veterinarian Pauline Nol, left, and biologist Ellen Brandell examine 2307-OR on Dec. 17, 2023. The adult male, from the Wenaha pack, was the largest of the five animals released, weighing 108 pounds. (Provided by Colorado Parks and Wildlife)

An adult male — the only adult among the five — was released last and swerved immediately into heavy timber. 

“I’ve seen wolves before but they have been in zoos and at rescue, but to see them in their natural habitat and turn and look curiously at us before darting into the forest is really really a special moment that I will treasure for my entire life,” said Gov. Jared Polis, who stood behind the crates with his husband, Marlon Reis, as officials swung the doors open.

The Colorado Sun agreed with the Colorado Parks and Wildlife request to not discuss the exact location of the wolf release until after a second round of releases is complete in the coming months. The location was on state-owned public land in Grand County.

This is a developing story that will be updated.