A photo of a possibly wolf sighted in northern Colorado in July. (Provided by Colorado Parks and Wildlife)
A photo of a possibly wolf sighted in northern Colorado. (Provided by Colorado Parks and Wildlife)

FORT COLLINS — Colorado Parks and Wildlife is working to confirm two possible gray wolf sightings in northern Colorado.

The Coloradoan reports Tuesday that someone sent the agency a photo that may show a radio-collared wolf near Walden in Jackson County.

Biologists are trying to confirm another recent sighting just to the south in Grand County.

Gray wolves were native to Colorado but were hunted to near extinction by the 1940s.

CPW spokeswoman Rebecca Ferrell says the Jackson County animal may have wandered from nearby Wyoming, one of several states where the wolf has been reintroduced.

The last confirmed Colorado wolf sightings were near Walden in 2015.

In all, there are about 6,000 gray wolves in the Northern Rockies, Pacific Northwest and Western Great Lakes.

MORE: Colorado question pitting ranchers vs. wolf advocates is heading for supermarket parking lots

Meanwhile, gray wolf supporters in Colorado are trying to gather 124,632 signatures by Dec. 13 to ask voters in 2020 whether the predator should be reintroduced on the Western Slope.

Ranchers are sportsmen are pushing back against the effort.

The Colorado Sun contributed to this report.

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