CA Kills Wolfpack Living Off Livestock, Signaling Golden State Wildlife Dilemma

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife killed four gray wolves believed to be responsible for dozens of cattle attacks while venturing near homes and people in a valley between Sacramento and Reno, authorities announced this week.

The four were responsible for a level of attacks that Fish and Wildlife officials called unprecedented.

The wolves' kills accounted for 70 livestock kills or 63 percent of all livestock losses between March 28 and Sept. 10, fish and wildlife officials announced in a written statement.

Another 17 confirmed or probable livestock losses were documented over the following month.
Agency officials said they tried to deter the attacks using non-lethal methods, including drones, bean bags, diversionary feeding, fladry installation, and around-the-clock patrols. However, the wolves began relying on cattle as a primary food source, a behavioral shift that threatens both livestock and the ecological integrity of wolf recovery.

“This decision was not made lightly nor was it easy,” Fish and Wildlife Director Charlton H. Bonham said.

“Despite extensive non-lethal efforts, including hazing and adaptive tools used by our Summer Strike Team, these wolves continued to prey on livestock. The situation with this pack is far outside any comparable experience across the state or the west, making the long-term recovery of gray wolves much harder."

"These wolves had become habituated to preying on cattle, a feeding pattern that persisted and was being taught to their offspring which would leave to form their own packs and could teach them the same cattle-preying behavior," state officials added. "This shift not only undermines recovery efforts for the species in California but also risks altering generational feeding patterns and broader ecological dynamics."

The wolves relied on cattle at an unprecedented level that experts were unable to change, which ultimately is bad for the long-term recovery of wolves or for people, Bonham added.

A Challenging Relationship

The wolves were members of the Beyem Seyo pack, one of 10 in California.

They are one of the state's most iconic species. But gray wolves disappeared from California a century ago due to deliberate efforts to eradicate them.

They began migrating back to California from Oregon in 2011, marking the first wild wolf in California in more than 100 years.

Less than two decades after the first wolf returned, several packs followed and established their presence as far south as Ventura County. Most of California’s wolf population lives in the northeast portion of the state, with one pack residing in the southern Sierra Nevada.

Gray wolves naturally prey on wild hoofed animals like deer and elk, not livestock. But the four wolves killed had become accustomed to preying on cattle and had taught their offspring to do so, according to the Fish and Wildlife agency. It is a dangerous behavior because it draws wolves closer to human communities, increasing the potential for conflict despite their instinct to avoid humans.

“Wolves are here in California, and that is an amazing ecological return," Bonham said.

Yet, their reemergence is a significant, disruptive change for rural communities, he added.

"Coexistence is our collective future but that comes with tremendous responsibility and sometimes hard decisions," he said.

Current conservation methods are not equipped to address the challenges posed by conflicts between wildlife and ranchers, according to a trio of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, including the university's California Wolf Project.

The loss of habitat for wild prey is a major, under-appreciated contributor to livestock kills, Arthur Middleton, Justin Brashares, and Kaggie Orrick said in a New York Times op-ed.

Without compensation and incentive programs, a sliver of private citizens bear the costs of predator conservation mandated by federal and state governments, according to the researchers, which increases mistrust and the likelihood of local resentment, conflict, and illegal poaching.

Operations continue to capture and relocate young wolves safely.

Wolf packs generally claim territories ranging from approximately 20 to 215 square miles, depending on available prey, and their territories in the west tend to be much larger. Gray wolves range from 40 to 175 pounds, weighing twice as much as coyotes, and their tails do not tend to curl upwards like most domestic dogs.

"Wolf features are generally less 'pointed' than those of coyotes; their ears are more rounded and their muzzles are broader," according to a report by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. "Wolves can usually be distinguished from domestic dogs by their relatively longer legs, larger feet and narrower chest."

They can also be distinguished by their famous howl.

"Wolves communicate via posture, scents, and vocalizations. Wolves are believed to howl to reinforce social bonds within the pack, sound alarm, locate pack members, and warn other wolves to stay out of their territory," according to the fish and wildlife department report. "Wolves howl more frequently in the evening and early morning, especially during winter breeding and pup-rearing."

For more information on gray wolves living in California, and actions individuals can take to deter wolves from their ranching properties, please visit Fish and Wildlife's web page on Gray Wolf.

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