There was still no information available through official channels Monday about a Colorado wolf that died in Wyoming last Wednesday, with Wyoming officials citing a law that keeps wolf hunters’ identities confidential.
That’s left people in both states feeling frustrated.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department hasn’t released any details about the location of the wolf’s death, or how it died.
But that statute cited usually applies to wolves that were legally shot.
“Per Wyoming Statute 23-1-304 (d)(vi), Wyoming Game and Fish is only able to release aggregate numbers of legally-taken wolves, and we cannot provide further details,” agency spokeswoman Amanda Fry said in an email to Cowboy State Daily on Monday.
The original intent of that law is to protect the identities of wolf hunters so that they wouldn’t be stalked, harassed or threatened by people opposed to hunting the predators.
In Wyoming, wolves remain completely protected within the boundaries of Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.
In some areas adjacent to the parks, they may be shot by hunters with wolf tags during specific hunting seasons.
In the rest of Wyoming, roughly 85% of the state, wolves may be shot on sight at any time, with no wolf hunting tag required.
Frustrating Lack Of Information
Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) has been equally tight-lipped about the death of wolf 2513, a male, in Wyoming. It’s the second wolf reintroduced to Colorado that’s died in Wyoming.
In March, a transplanted wolf that had been attacking sheep in north-central Wyoming was killed by USDA Wildlife Services.
CPW confirmed that wolf 2513’s radio collar was returned to them by Wyoming Game And Fish, but offered no more details about were in Wyoming the wolf died or how.
“CPW does not comment on wildlife movements, operations or regulations in other states. CPW has no further comment on the mortality of wolf 2513 as it took place outside of Colorado,” according to a statement from the agency.
The lack of information from either state agency is “very frustrating,” Wyoming Wildlife Advocates Executive Director Kristin Combs told Cowboy State Daily.
“It’s frustrating, especially in a situation like this, where it’s not even a Wyoming wolf, it’s a Colorado wolf,” Combs said.
If it’s true that somebody did kill the wolf legally in Wyoming, the person’s identity could remain confidential if some basic information was released, she added.
“You still think it would be permissible to have information about a general location and the method used to take the wolf,” she said.
Frustration In Colorado Too
Colorado resident John Michael Williams has been critical of his state’s wolf reintroduction program.
He said that he is also frustrated by the information blackout regarding wolf 2513’s death.
“I understand the need for confidentiality on the part of Wyoming residents, but that could also be balanced with the need for public disclosure,” Williams said. “Why not say, ‘The wolf was taken legally by a private individual in this general area.’”
As he sees it, a lack of information could play into the hands of anti-hunters.
“By doing something like this (releasing general information), there is enough anonymity for the individual, but it also gives information on the general location and tamps down rumors that the wolf was illegally taken or abused,” he said.
“A lack of information disclosure on the part of Wyoming Fish and Game (at least in the winter) could lead to rumors being spread by the pro-wolf crowd that another wolf was run down by a snowmobile,” Williams added.
He was referring to the worldwide firestorm of controversy in reaction to Daniel, Wyoming, resident Cody Roberts reportedly running a wolf down with a snowmobile in February 2024 — and then allegedly showing off the injured wolf in a local bar before killing it.
Second Wolf From Canada That Died In Wyoming
Wolf 2513 was among 15 wolves transplanted to Colorado from British Columbia, Canada, in January, as part of Colorado’s wolf reintroduction program.
It was also the second radio-collared wolf from that group to cross into Wyoming and die here.
In March, another male wolf from the British Columbia transplants was shot and killed, after reportedly killing sheep on private property in “north-central Wyoming.”
A general location was given in that case because it was agents from the USDA Wildlife Services, and not a private individual, that shot that wolf.
‘This Is Going To Keep Happening’
Prominent Wyoming outdoorsman Guy Eastman said he understands the need for keeping wolf hunters’ identities confidential.
“Unfortunately, we have to have stuff like that. In a perfect world, we wouldn’t need to have that law,” he told Cowboy State Daily.
Eastman added that he knows a non-resident who drew a tag for a Wyoming grizzly hunt in 2018, just before that hunt was shut down by a court order that kept grizzlies under federal Endangered Species Act protection.
That person’s name was somehow made public, and they received death threats, said Eastman, who represents the third generation of the outdoor multimedia family that launched Eastmans Hunting Journal.
He added that a radio-collared Colorado wolf crossing into Wyoming and dying for the second time in less than a month doesn’t surprise him.
“Mark my words, this is going to keep happening,” he said.
As he sees it, Colorado doesn’t have enough huge tracts of remote country to be suitable for wolves.
“Even in Wyoming, they tend to want to be further north,” where conditions such as deep snow in winter make it easier for wolves to hunt large animals such as elk, he said.
Reintroducing wolves to Colorado was a bad idea, he said, and the wolves will likely just keep pushing north into Wyoming.
“It’s like put some rainbow trout in a bathtub,” Eastman said. “They’re just going to die or leave. It’s not good habitat.”
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
