A conventional collaring operation by the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Department became an interstate issue before it was over.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department was notified Monday that Colorado Parks and Wildlife had captured and collared a gray wolf in Wyoming’s southern Platte Valley, near the Colorado border. The department was contacted about the cross-state incident after the wolf was collared and released.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is not assisting in any wolf reintroduction efforts for Colorado and had no role in Monday’s collaring events. The incident occurred while a Colorado team was attempting to capture the wolf in Colorado near the Wyoming state line.
The wolf was initially targeted from a helicopter using an immobilization tool called a “net gun.” The animal was also shot with an immobilization dart. The drug did not immediately take effect, and the animal was able to run across the border into Wyoming. Colorado wildlife biologists pursued the wolf across the border, where it was subsequently captured, collared and released approximately one third of a mile into Wyoming.
Single, roaming wolves in this area of Wyoming are not unusual and are believed to have originated from the reintroduced populations in Yellowstone National Park.
