Less than nine months after the first gray wolves were released into the wild in Colorado, amid widespread attention as part of an ambitious reintroduction program, officials are now scrambling to capture and move the state’s first breeding pack.

The announcement by Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials on Tuesday that two of the 10 wolves that were released — along with three pups that they had this year — would be moved from their current area came after the animals were accused of attacking nearby livestock.

The plan to relocate those wolves, known as the Copper Creek pack, is potentially a setback for the state’s reintroduction program, a contentious effort that was narrowly voted into law by a referendum in 2020.

The gray wolf is native to Colorado, but the animals had been eradicated by the mid-1940s, according to Colorado State University. The 2020 referendum reignited longstanding tensions between cattle ranchers, livestock farmers and hunters — who see the wolves as a threat — and conservationists, who point to their potential ecological benefits.

Wolves kill a very small percentage of livestock, but a few have wandered into Colorado from nearby states in past years and killed or injured farm animals. In December 2023, 10 gray wolves were released onto public land in Summit and Grand Counties.