UPDATE (7/10/2019):
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department confirmed the animal spotted in northern Colorado is a wolf. It is a male gray wolf from the Snake River Pack in Wyoming.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) is working to confirm the sighting of a collared wolf in Jackson County, located in the northernmost part of the state.
CPW tweeted this on 7/8/2019:
You may have seen our wolf sighting tweet earlier this evening. We accidentally shared the wrong wolf sighting photo. Here are the correct ones from over the weekend. (note the tracking collar) As we continue to get more information we will share it.
An environmental group is behind an effort to forcible introduce wolves into Colorado via a ballot initiative. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation strongly opposes such an effort. The CPW Commission is already on record in opposition having approved a 2016 resolution regarding the reintroduction of Mexican gray wolves by stating it “opposes the intentional release of any wolves into Colorado.”
“Wolves are welcome to our state if they come naturally,” Matt Robbins, CPW’s public information officer, was quoted at the time. “If there was a stray wolf to enter our borders, then it would be welcome. It is if they are intentionally released — if someone was to bring wolves in and drop them off, ‘You now have a pack of wolves in Colorado’ — therein lies an issue for us.”
There are multiple reports of wolves in Colorado over the years.
(Photo source: Colorado Parks and Wildlife)