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The agency was not aware of the uncollared wolf’s presence in the region until it attacked sheep on at least three occasions between July 20 and Aug. 2

Senate Bill 5 would move about $250,000 in funding earmarked for wolf reintroduction into a fund aimed at driving down health care costs. Colorado Parks and Wildlife will have to find the funding elsewhere to continue its reintroduction plans — which doesn’t appear to be a problem for the agency.

One of the goals of controversial wolf hunts in the Western U.S. is to help reduce the burden on ranchers, who lose livestock to wolves every year. A new study finds that those hunts have had a measurable, but small effect on livestock depredations.

The savings would be relatively meager — wolf reintroduction cost Colorado taxpayers $3.5 million last year — but the Democrat leading the measure says it’s about priorities as the legislature contends with a steep drop in state tax revenue.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife Director Jeff Davis talks about the pack’s history and ongoing controversy.

The decision doesn’t change the status of wolves, but it forces the agency to revisit the question of whether they should be federally protected, including in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

The latest map from Colorado Parks and Wildlife shows wolves in familiar areas.

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They are the One Ear Pack in Jackson County, the King Mountain Pack in Routt County and the Three Creeks Pack in Rio Blanco County.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife commissioners during a special meeting on Monday declined to direct the agency to kill or relocate a reintroduced gray wolf pack that has caused controversy in Pitkin County.