MOFFAT COUNTY, Colo. — Two of Colorado's released wolves have wandered dangerously close to Wyoming, where some of Colorado's naturally migrating wolves have been legally shot just inside the Cowboy State border.
Despite the danger, a Colorado Parks and Wildlife official told the Coloradoan the agency will take no action to prevent the wolves from moving into Wyoming, where killing wolves is legal year-round along the border.
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"If our released wolves go north into Wyoming, they will do what they do and there is no plan to recapture those wolves," said Eric Odell, Colorado Parks and Wildlife's species conservation program manager who is overseeing the state wildlife agency's wolf reintroduction effort.
Two of the 10 wolves released Dec. 18-22 in Grand and Summit counties were confirmed by the state wildlife agency to have recently entered Moffat County in northwest Colorado. All of the released wolves were fitted with GPS tracking collars.
Moffat County sheep rancher Jorgiea Raftopoulos told the Coloradoan she found wolf tracks confirmed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife on Feb. 16 a mile from her ranch house near Hamilton, which is 15 miles south of Craig. That would place the wolves about 43 miles from the Wyoming border.
> Read the full story at the Fort Collins Coloradoan.
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