Copper Creek Wolves Drive Majority Of Colorado Livestock Losses

By Miles Blumhardt | The Coloradoan

Beef, and mutton, are often what’s for dinner for one Colorado wolfpack that has racked up a $700,000 tab, according to a review by the Coloradoan.

The Copper Creek pack has been implicated in more than 60% of the state’s confirmed depredations — 49 of 78 —since Colorado began reintroducing wolves in December 2023, a review of Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s confirmed depredations records and ranchers’ depredation claim filings shows. Those losses led to payouts by the state exceeding $700,000. That is greater than 40% of the total amount Colorado has paid for wolf depredations in that time.

In total, the agency awarded ranchers more than $1.6 million in wolf depredation claims combined in 2024 and 2025. That’s more than double what the state legislature budgeted for.

It’s also more than Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Washington and Oregon combined paid in claims in those two years, which has prompted wolf advocates and some on the Colorado Parks and Wildlife commission to believe Colorado’s compensation rates are too “generous.”

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