Wolf Walked To Colorado From Yellowstone Investigation Finds
Female Wolf Left National Park In January 2003, Records Show
DENVER — A female wolf found dead by the side of Interstate 70 in Clear
Creek County last month walked from Yellowstone National Park only to be
hit by a vehicle, according to preliminary results of an federal wildlife
investigation.
A necropsy was performed on the wolf because officials weren’t sure if the
wolf had been hit by a vehicle in Colorado or killed elsewhere and dumped
here as a prank.
An investigation by U.S. Fish and Wildlife uncovered eyewitnesses who said
they saw the wolf on the interstate prior to its death as it struggled to
get under a guardrail on the shoulder of the interstate highway.
A necropsy on the wolf’s body performed at a Fish and Wildlife laboratory
in Ashland, Ore., showed the animal died after being struck by a car.
The wolf was part of the Swan Lake pack in the northeast corner of
Yellowstone National Park. The pack formed on its own in 2000 after wolves
were reintroduced to the park in 1995 to 1996. The lone wolf left the pack
and walked more than 500 miles to Colorado, officials concluded.
A radio collar was placed on the wolf in January 2003, but park biologists
lost the signal a week later when the animal roamed out of receiver range.
State wildlife officials said the wolf matched the description of an
animal that spotted earlier in the Yampa River area near Steamboat
Springs, Colo.
The wolf’s travels are not unusual, wildlife officials said. Other wolves
from Yellowstone have wandered as far as Oregon.