New videos show three pups of reintroduced wolves in Colorado

The footage comes from Mike Usalavage, a local nature lover and home builder, who posted two videos to Instagram on August 17. In the first video, the trio of wolves splash and wrestle in a puddle on a dirt road in an undisclosed location. The second video shows an adult wolf watching the pups from a nearby patch of grass.

In both footage, two Jack Russell Terriers watch the scene through a windshield, barking and whining at the sight of their evolutionary ancestors. Usalavage did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CPR News.

“Playing not only allows wolf cubs to practice their hunting skills, but also teaches them how to communicate effectively with other wolves. This skill will serve them throughout their lives as social creatures that live in packs,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials wrote in their Instagram post.

It's been more than four years since Colorado voters narrowly passed a ballot initiative requiring the state to reintroduce wolves. Despite strong objections from local ranchers and hunters, Colorado Parks and Wildlife enforced the mandate last December and reintroduced 10 wolves captured in Oregon.

In June, state biologists announced that GPS collar data indicated a female wolf had built a den in Grand County. Colorado Parks and Wildlife discovered a cub at the site a few days later, confirming that Colorado's first group of reintroduced wolves had been able to reproduce. State officials named the new family group the Copper Creek Pack.

One mystery surrounding the pack has been the total number of pups born in the new litter. In its initial announcement, Colorado Parks and Wildlife confirmed the presence of a single pup, but noted that wolves typically give birth to four to six pups at a time. The new video shows that at least three offspring survived puberty — and offers the first widely available images of Colorado's new wolf residents.

But the confirmation of new puppies is also a scenario that local ranchers have feared for months.

Since the reintroduction last December, Colorado Parks and Wildlife has confirmed that wolves have killed 15 cows and calves and nine sheep. Seven of those calves were killed on a ranch operated by Conway Farrell. Farrell told CPR News he suspects wolves from the Copper Creek Pack were responsible for the incidents. Colorado has also confirmed that wolves killed eight sheep on a neighboring ranch in late July. Farmers and ranchers can apply for up to $15,000 in compensation for livestock or herding animals killed or injured by wolves.

Farrell has joined other ranchers in calling on the state to remove the wolves or allow ranchers to shoot the animals themselves, largely out of concern that the predators could pass on their habit of hunting livestock to their offspring, leading to more dead sheep and cattle.

Colorado wildlife officials have so far denied all of these requests, saying doing so could result in the death of the only known cubs to result from the state's reintroduction efforts.