After being wiped out in California for nearly a century, the gray wolf has been making a comeback in the state, in a change that's been celebrated by conservationists and wildlife lovers. But as their population has grown over the last decade, so too has the number of conflicts between wolves and ranchers.
It's a pattern that's played out in other states, where wolf populations have rebounded in recent years.
The latest example comes from Northern California, where state wildlife officials announced on Friday that they made the difficult decision to euthanize four wolves following an "unprecedented level" of attacks on livestock.
Between late March and early September, the gray wolves from the Beyem Seyo pack — one of 10 wolf packs now confirmed in California — were responsible for 70 total livestock losses, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) said. The losses represented nearly two-thirds of the state's total wolf-caused livestock depredations during that time period, according to the agency.
"This decision was not made lightly nor was it easy," said CDFW director Charlton Bonham in a statement. "Despite extensive non-lethal efforts … these wolves continued to prey on livestock."
Wildlife officials can use a variety of non-lethal tools to try to deter predators like wolves from attacking livestock, including firing guns into the air, hanging brightly colored flagging around grazing areas, and driving around herds with ATVs and trucks.
Despite those efforts, the wolves had become so reliant on cattle as a food source that "we could not break the cycle," Bonham said. "Which ultimately is not good for the long-term recovery of wolves or for people."
Gray wolves were largely hunted, trapped and poisoned out of the lower 48 U.S. states by the early 20th century. It's believed the last wolves in California were extirpated by the 1920s. Wolves have since returned to the state on their own, dispersing from packs in Oregon and spreading as far south as the southern end of the Sierra Nevada.
In other parts of the country, most recently in Colorado and most notably in Yellowstone National Park, gray wolves have been reintroduced by wildlife officials in an effort to restore the areas' natural ecosystems.
The reintroductions and recolonizations have followed a similar pattern: conservationists celebrating the return of the apex predator, while ranchers in largely rural areas criticize their impact on their livelihoods.
In 2020, during the first Trump administration, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed gray wolves from the Endangered Species Act in the lower 48 states, citing increases in wolf populations in parts of the Western U.S. and the Upper Midwest — a move that ended federal protections for the species. Environmental groups sued over the decision, and a judge ordered protections reinstated in 2022.
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