Death of one adult male wolf in September was likely the result of a fight with another wolf, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife he received a mortality signal from the wolf collar Sept. 9 in Grand County. The death of the adult male wolf – one of those brought in from Oregon in December – was confirmed the next day. Following the incident, the US Fish and Wildlife Service began conducting an investigation to determine the cause of death.

This was not the male wolf associated with the Copper Creek pack that he died after being captured at the beginning of September.

On Friday, Nov. 8, a spokesman for the federal agency said the wolf died of “injuries consistent with a fight, possibly involving another wolf.”

While the full necropsy report won’t be available until next week, the necropsy showed the wolf suffered trauma “typical of wounds caused by wolves and other canids, and preliminary analysis of hair samples collected from the scene further supports the involvement of another wolf”.

The agency also noted that the wolf suffered a gunshot wound to the rear leg, but that it was an old and healed wound.

Furthermore, the wolf was found to be in “good nutritional condition at the time of death,” the spokesman said.

This wolf was found dead four days after Colorado Parks and Wildlife completed the capture of six wolves from the Copper Creek pack in the same county. A fifth wolf cub was discovered to be in the area three weeks later, evading secondary capture attempts by Parks and Wildlife in late September and early October.

The adult male linked to the Copper Creek pack died on September 3 in captivity, four days after his capture on August 30. When captured, the male was severely malnourished and had sustained an injury – and deep puncture wounds – to his hind leg. . At the time, Parks and Wildlife’s wolf conservation program manager Eric Odell told the media that it was “probably another carnivore-type animal attack” and likely not a human-caused injury.

While the Fish and Wildlife Service is also conducting a necropsy on this wolf, the agency has no other information about the death or a timeline for when the investigation will be completed.

The first of three deaths among reintroduced wolves in Colorado occurred in mid-April following a mountain lion attack.