DNA tests confirm 4 wolves are living in northwestern Colorado
Colorado Parks and Wildlife unveiled the results of genetics tests Thursday that confirm the presence of wolves — three females and one male related to each other — in the northwestern part of the state.

State biologists received a notice confirming that four scat samples collected last month near a scavenged elk carcass in Moffat County came from wolves. CPW officials said the evidence suggests the wolves, the first group documented in Colorado since the 1940s, likely are siblings. DNA testing did not determine ages.

“We don’t know where or when they were born,” CPW’s species conservation program manager Eric Odell said in a statement Thursday morning. “But that there are closely related wolves is a pretty significant finding.”

State wildlife officers investigating a cow carcass found evidence of at least six wolves, following an earlier report by hunters of a group wolves that agency biologists deemed credible.

And Gov. Jared Polis in January announced he was “honored to welcome our canine friends back to Colorado after their long absence.” Polis added that “it is important that people give them space.”

There may be more than four wolves, CPW officials said, and their agency is waiting to receive more DNA test results from scat samples collected in January.