Gray wolves are making a comeback in the western U.S. state of California after a century-long absence. Conservationists say their return is a success, but it’s putting pressure on ranchers and rural communities as wolf attacks on livestock mount, Mongabay wildlife staff writer Spoorthy Raman reported.
The state’s last wild wolf (Canis lupus) was shot in 1924. The animals didn’t return until 2015, migrating south to California from Oregon. State officials estimate that between 50 and 70 wolves, organized into at least 10 packs, have repopulated the state today.
“Hearing a wolf howl in California landscapes after 100 years is super great,” Matthew Hyde, a carnivore ecologist at the University of California, Berkeley’s California Wolf Project, told Raman.
But according to Hyde, their survival in California depends on whether humans will tolerate them. “We were very good at eradicating the species 100 years ago,” he said. “It wouldn’t take very much for the population to crash, should bad actors decide to take action.”
Gray wolves are protected under both California law and the federal Endangered Species Act, meaning it’s illegal to kill or remove them, even if they prey on livestock.
The species is largest member of the dog family, weighing up to 80 kilograms (176 pounds) As apex predators, they serve important roles in ecosystems, including regulating deer and elk populations.
But since the wolves began to repopulate the Californian landscape a decade ago, they’ve also been targeting livestock. State authorities investigated 274 possible cases of wolf attacks and confirmed 128 of them were actual attacks on livestock since 2015.
“Almost every pack does overlap to some degree with an agricultural area with livestock,” said biologist Axel Hunnicutt, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s wolf program coordinator.
In 2021, the department launched a program to compensate ranchers for impacts caused by wolves and continues to compensate for direct losses.
Hunnicutt attributes the attacks to learned behavior in some situations, but in others, it may simply be a question of survival due to a lack of sufficient wild prey.
Wolf attacks on humans are extremely rare, but some members of the public are concerned about their safety. Several counties issued public safety emergencies after livestock attacks.
Two human deaths due to wolf attacks were recorded from 2002-2020 in North America. For comparison, in the U.S., domesticated dogs kill on average more than 40 people annually, while cattle kill around 20 each year.
“We’re not seeing wolves that are acting aggressively,” Hunnicutt said. “We have an instinctive fear of wolves … it is very scary for people.”
Read the full story by Spoorthy Raman here.
Banner image: A wolf being released into the wild. Image courtesy of Malia Byrtus for California Wolf Project.
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