Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) captured 15 gray wolves in Canada and has released them in Eagle and Pitkin counties as the state continues to move forward with the voter-mandated reintroduction effort, bringing the total number of known wolves in the state to 29.These 15 new wolves seven males and eight females will join the seven surviving from the first reintroduction in 2023, five pups born in 2024 and two wolves that moved south from Wyoming years ago. The work to capture and release the wolves, which began on Jan. 11, concluded on Saturday, CPW said. In addition, the five members of the Copper Creek Pack one reintroduced adult female and her four pups that the agency captured last summer following livestock depredations have been returned to the wild in Eagle and Pitkin counties. No other wolf releases are planned for this winter. "CPW has a responsibility to balance the safety of staff and the animals with the level and timing of information provided during this complex wildlife operation," CPW said. "Unfortunately, staff safety was threatened as CPW offices were watched and threatening social media posts and phone calls were received."For those reasons, no details were publicly shared about the wolf release while the operation was still underway. The 15 wolves involved in this second round of reintroductions came from British Columbia. CPW reached an agreement in September with the British Columbia Ministry of Water, Lands and Resource Stewardship in Canada.Watch Denver7's report on this announcement, as well as our exclusive interview with the director of CPW, below. Colorado secures a new source location for this winter's second wolf releaseGenerally, British Columbia is home to wolf packs that thrive in areas with little to no livestock presence, CPW Director Jeff Davis said in an exclusive interview with Denver7, which lines up with Colorado's efforts to ensure the wolves it translocates do not have a concerning depredation history. CPW confirmed Sunday that the specific wolves brought to Colorado do not overlap with livestock at all. The province is home to about 8,500 wolves that are widely spread, but that number fluctuates year to year, according to British Columbia's website. British Columbia is trying to balance a healthy wolf population with their caribou recovery efforts, and protecting the dwindling population of the latter is extremely important to the First Nations. Allowing Colorado to take some of the wolves for its restoration effort will help them reduce the numbers of depredations on the small caribou herds that the First Nations are working to recover, Davis said. The province also has an abundant elk population, which are wolves' natural prey, so the sourced wolves will already recognize elk and deer as prey once they arrive in Colorado, he added. Over the course of six days in January, the 15 wolves were captured in British Columbia and released in Colorado. All were examined, vaccinated and outfitted with a GPS collar. In addition, biological samples were collected from each animal.During this process, CPW said one wolf died after it was captured. Veterinary staff said its age and an underlying condition may have contributed to its death. The 15 captured wolves were placed in individual crates and flown to Colorado with the help of LightHawk, a conservation-based organization that CPW also used for the 2023 wolf release. The volunteer pilot donated more than 30 hours to move the wolves, CPW said.CPW staff monitored the wolves' health throughout the flight. On the evenings of Jan. 12, 14 and 16, the 15 wolves were released in Eagle and Pitkin counties five each night. The five members of the Copper Creek Pack were all released on Jan. 18. CPW's wildlife veterinarians evaluated their health at the secure facility where they have been held since they were captured following multiple depredation incidents last year. All are in good condition and they were released together so the adult female can teach the pups how to hunt, CPW said, giving them the best chance at survival. Each one of them, like the wolves from Canada, were released with a GPS collar. "All five animals are collared and will be closely monitored," CPW said. "This agency decision to re-release the Copper Creek animals considered multiple factors, including the health of the animals, the timing of the B.C. releases this year and the potential proximity to new wolves on the landscape. This strategy gives the animals the best chance for survival, advancing Colorados gray wolf restoration efforts."CPW plans to hold a press conference Monday afternoon to share more. This second round of reintroductions came weeks after the CPW Commission decided to adopt CPW's recommendation of denying a petition filed by ranchers to pause the wolf reintroduction program. That commission vote came after hours of testimony, Q&A and public comment at the Jan. 8 Denver meeting. Dec. 18 marked one year since the first wolf reintroduction. CPW released its first five gray wolves on Dec. 18, 2023 at an undisclosed place in Grand County. Five more were released a few days later in Grand and Summit counties. In the months since then, they have spread across much of northern Colorado, as was expected. All 10 of those wolves were captured in Oregon. You can watch Denver7's coverage from the first wolf release below. Colorado releases its first 5 gray wolves as part of reintroduction planTwo of the wolves mated, leading to five wolf pups and the creation of the Copper Creek Pack the first wolf pack since the release in December 2023. However, evidence pointed at pack members depredating on livestock. In 2024, CPW confirmed 26 livestock deaths across 16 incidents west of the Continental Divide. It is not clear how many were connected with the Copper Creek Pack. Denver7 published an in-depth report on the one-year mark the struggles and the successes and the year ahead, and aired the below story in December. Colorado began reintroducing wolves 1 year ago. These are the struggles and triumphs of that year.In August and September 2024, all but one wolf pup from the Copper Creek Pack were captured and transported to a large and undisclosed enclosure to be released with the next round of reintroductions which just happened. The remaining pup, while not captured, appeared on surveillance camera to be healthy in the wild, according to CPW Director Davis. When the pack was captured, the adult male was found with serious injuries and died a few days later. In early January, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said a necropsy on the wolf found that a gunshot wound had led to its death, and it is investigating the case as an illegal kill. A second reintroduced wolf was also illegally shot, but survived, CPW said. These animals are protected by the Endangered Species Act and state law. Penalties for illegal shooting of wolves in Colorado varies, but can include fines up to $100,000, jail time and loss of hunting privileges, CPW said. In addition to the illegal wolf kill, two other reintroduced wolves died in 2024: In April, a wolf was found deceased after a likely mountain lion attack. And in mid-September, another one was found deceased with wounds that appeared to be from another wolf or canid. Brenna Cassidy, wolf monitoring and data coordinator with CPW, told Denver7 in December that wild wolves typically only live three or four years, and these three wolves were within that range. Her PhD is centered on wolf mortality. Want to learn more about Colorado's wolf reintroduction? You can explore the below timeline, which outlines all of Denver7's coverage since the very beginning. The timeline starts with our most recent story.The 261-page Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan lists the goal of translocating 10 to 15 wolves per year to Colorado for a total of 30 to 50 wolves over three to five years. CPW said Sunday that it plans to continue with one to three additional wolf releases over those years. After that point, the active reintroduction efforts will stop and CPW will focus solely on monitoring to see if the population is self-sustaining.Read the full wolf restoration and management plan below or here.Since the wolf management plan was published in May 2023, CPW has shared that it identified a northern zone and southern zone for future wolf releases. The wolf reintroductions in December 2023 and in January 2025 have both been in the northern zone, as outlined below. Unlike the first reintroduction, this most-recent release included counties south of Interstate 70. On Dec. 23, CPW shared that state officials, alongside members of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on coordinating and communicating about possible future wolf releases in southwestern Colorado, within the southern zone of the above map, and the potential impacts on the tribe's reservation and the Brunot Treaty Area. The Brunot Area encompasses about 3.7 million acres around the San Juan Mountains region. This builds off a previous MOU signed in 2008 concerning wildlife management in the Brunot Treaty Area. The new MOU is the primary recommendation that came out of consultation meetings the state held with the tribe in 2022 and 2023. "The Southern Ute Indian Tribe acknowledges and appreciates the Colorado Department of Natural Resources and Colorado Parks and Wildlife's commitment to fostering a strong and collaborative relationship with our Tribe," said Chairman Melvin J. Baker of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe. "We recognize the importance of continued cooperation and communication in all matters pertaining to wildlife management. As the oldest continuous residents, we have a deep and unique connection to the land and its wildlife. We look forward to working constructively with the State to ensure that the reintroduction of the gray wolf is conducted in a manner that respects Tribal sovereignty, upholds our cultural values, and minimizes potential impacts on our Tribal Members, their livelihoods, and our traditional ways of life."