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Colorado’s new wolf pack — including pups — to be captured and relocated after livestock depredations

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Colorado’s new wolf pack — including pups — to be captured and relocated after livestock depredations


Colorado wildlife officials are relocating two reintroduced wolves and their pups after a series of livestock depredations — a setback for the historic and controversial reintroduction program launched late last year.

The pack of wolves, called the Copper Creek pack, will be captured from the wild in Grand County, Colorado Parks and Wildlife announced Tuesday night. The agency did not disclose where the pack will be moved to, citing the need to protect the wolves and CPW staff.

“The decision to capture and relocate the Copper Creek pack was made with the careful consideration of multiple factors and feedback from many different stakeholders,” CPW Director Jeff Davis said in a statement. ”Our options in this unique case were very limited, and this action is by no means a precedent for how CPW will resolve wolf-livestock conflict moving forward.

“The ultimate goal of the operation is to relocate the pack to another location while we assess our best options for them to continue to contribute to the successful restoration of wolves in Colorado.”

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The relocation announcement comes less than 10 days after the wildlife agency announced proof of at least three pups born this spring and shared a video showing the pups playing in a puddle. The pups are the first born to wolves released in December as part of a voter-mandated reintroduction of the predator species extirpated from Colorado nearly a century ago.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife release wolf 2302-OR, one of five gray wolves captured in Oregon in an initial batch in late December, onto public land in Grand County, Colorado, on Monday, Dec. 18, 2023. (Photo provided by Colorado Parks and Wildlife)

Agency leaders will provide more information about the relocation after the targeted wolves are captured, according to the statement.

The agency’s statement about the relocation raises more questions than it answers, said Michael Saul, director of the Rockies and Plains Program at Defenders of Wildlife, which advocated for the reintroduction. Saul wanted to know whether CPW will keep the pack together during the capture and relocation effort, where they will be taken and where they will be released back into the wild — if at all.

“This reintroduction is in its tenuous, early stages and I just don’t understand how it makes sense to give up on the one reproducing pack we have,” he said.

The Copper Creek pack’s wolves, including the known pups, are among at least a dozen of the animals now roaming Colorado’s mountains. Eight other adults were released in December after their capture and relocation from Oregon, and a pair of Wyoming-based wolves naturally migrated into the state earlier. One of the relocated wolves was found dead in the spring.

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Colorado voters in 2020 narrowly voted in favor of the reintroduction program, fueled primarily by voters along the urban Front Range. Many ranchers have opposed the effort and have said the return of wolves threatens their livelihoods and ways of life.

Colorado is the first state to reintroduce the apex predator.

Since the reintroduction, wolves have killed or injured at least nine sheep and 15 head of cattle, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s list of confirmed depredations. Most of those depredations were caused by the paired wolves in Middle Park, which formed the Copper Creek pack, said Reid DeWalt, CPW’s assistant director for the agency’s Aquatic, Terrestrial and Natural Resources branch, on Friday during a Parks and Wildlife Commission meeting.

“We have had a few other depredations from the other wolves, but nothing to the level we’ve seen in Middle Park,” he said.

Ranchers in Middle Park repeatedly have asked the agency to take action to stop the wolf depredations, but the agency until now has declined to intervene beyond providing more nonlethal deterrent resources. The Middle Park Stockgrowers in the spring requested a permit that would allow ranchers to kill depredating wolves, but the permit was denied.

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DeWalt offered an update on the wolf reintroduction effort during the commission meeting but did not mention the possibility of relocating the wolves. Davis, CPW’s director, also did not mention the relocation during his update to the commission.

The agency still plans to release more wolves this winter, DeWalt said Friday. CPW has not yet found a state or government willing to supply wolves after a Washington tribe reversed its agreement to provide the canines.

But DeWalt said staff members were confident they’d be able to find another source. The agency plans to release the next batch of wolves in the same northern zone they used late last year so that they’ll increase the wolf population in the area, DeWalt said.

The agency has hired five predator damage conflict specialists. Their job is to focus primarily on wolf issues, but they will also work on predations with bears and mountain lions, DeWalt said.

The five specialists and other CPW staff attended a two-week training in Oregon and Idaho to learn about wolf management and how to deter depredations, he said.

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Denver, CO

Denver could see first snow Sunday night, plus more next week

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Denver could see first snow Sunday night, plus more next week


Denver’s first dusting of snow will likely fall this weekend, with forecasters predicting less than half an inch of the stuff will stick around Sunday night.

Saturday is expected to be mild and sunny, bringing a high of 65 and a low of 38 overnight, according to the National Weather Service.

On Sunday, temperatures will drop from 58 degrees during the day to just below freezing overnight. Rain is forecast before midnight, giving way to snow that will continue into Monday morning.

After the weather clears up Monday afternoon, the snow could return Wednesday and later in the week, along with highs in the 30s and 40s, and lows in the 20s.

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On average, Denver sees its first flakes around Oct. 18, with the earliest recorded snow date being Sept. 3 in 1961 and the latest being Dec. 10 in 2021. Last year, the first snowfall of the season was recorded Oct. 28.

Denver’s first freeze was also late this year, arriving Oct. 25, or about two and a half weeks later than the average first freeze date.



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Denver, CO

Jamal Murray goes into concussion protocol after collision in Denver Nuggets game

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Jamal Murray goes into concussion protocol after collision in Denver Nuggets game


Nuggets guard Jamal Murray was placed in the concussion protocol after a collision with Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle during Friday night’s game at Barclays Center. It happened in the third quarter of Denver’s loss.

Jamal Murray of the Denver Nuggets at Barclays Center on Oct. 29.

Michelle Farsi / Getty Images

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Murray was cutting through the lane with Anthony Edwards guarding him, when Randle backed up to chase Aaron Gordon and inadvertently banged his shoulder into Murray’s nose.

Murray’s head jerked back into Edwards from the impact, and he doubled over in pain while the play continued before subbing out four possessions later during a timeout and heading to the locker room for further examination.

The Nuggets ruled him out for the rest of the game a few minutes later.

Murray had six points on 2-for-7 shooting and three assists in 22 minutes.

The Nuggets wound up losing the game by a score of 119-116.

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Broncos Defense Embraces Challenge vs. Ravens

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Broncos Defense Embraces Challenge vs. Ravens


Sunday’s game between the Baltimore Ravens and Denver Broncos will be a battle of strengths.

On one side, there’s the Ravens’ high-powered offense led by Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry. Through Week 8, Baltimore ranks first in total offense (452.1 yards per game) and rushing offense (200 yards per game), second in scoring (30.3 points per game), and fifth in passing offense (252.1 yards per game) . The addition of Henry, the league leader in rushing, has taken this offense to new heights, and both he and Jackson could have hardware in their future.

On the other side, there’s a stifling Broncos defense that has quietly emerged as one of the best in the league. Denver currently ranks third in total (282.6 yards allowed per game) and scoring defense (15 points per game), fourth in passing defense (176.3 yards allowed per game) and seventh in rushing defense (106.3 yards allowed per game). The Broncos don’t have any stars on defense outside of cornerback Pat Surtain II, but it’s just an overall very solid unit.

However, Denver hasn’t seen an offense like Baltimore’s yet. Ahead of their toughest test of the season, the Broncos are embracing the opportunity at hand.

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“It’s really challenging,” Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph said, per the team’s website. “Obviously, this league’s based on having good players [and] having a good scheme. But they’ve got playmakers everywhere. Their running game obviously starts with Derrick Henry — and when you have Lamar adding 60 yards a game to that, between the scrambles and the call quarterback runs, it makes it difficult to get a stop. That’s why they’re so high as far as the numbers.”

When asked how he intends to stop the Ravens’ high-flying attack, Joseph knows that taking away their greatest strength is paramount to victory.

“You have to take something away,” Joseph said. “My preference is the running game and make them throw it. So, we’ll see how that works out on Sunday. But we have a plan to get both stopped. We’ll see how that comes out.”

From Baltimore’s perspective, this matchup is a great test as well. The Ravens have faced some good defenses this season, such as the Cleveland Browns last week, but a chance to better themselves against a quality opponent is always appreciated.

“[The Broncos defense] is playing at a really high level. [They’re] very confident. Their guys are really active; they play hard,” offensive coordinator Todd Monken said. “That’s one thing you see on film. They’ve done a great job of building the core personalities of the players they’ve got playing on the field – I think that’s impressive [and] how hard they play and schematically how they challenge you with their pressure package.

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“We’re up for it; our guys are excited. We’ve seen that for the last four weeks. We’ve seen teams that have decided to pressure us. To me, that’s where the league is going, otherwise we wouldn’t be seeing it as much. So, we have to be on point with all of our IDs and where we go with the ball.”

Make sure you bookmark Baltimore Ravens on SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!



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