After Almost A Century, Wolves Are Returning To California

In 1924, the last wild wolf in California was shot and killed in Lassen County as part of a centuries-long extermination campaign that nearly wiped out wolves in the lower 48 United States. Since then, the human population has increased dramatically. Along with that increase came a greater need for food and more industrialized agriculture. Over the past few years, wolves have been finding their way back to the Golden State and many residents are not happy.

How did the wolves get there?

In 2016, a female gray wolf that biologists have named LAS01F left her family pack to find a mate and a territory of her own. Instead of staying within familiar territory as most wolves do, she traveled for over 800 miles…. all the way back to Lassen County. Along the way she scent-marked her trail so other wolves could find her. 

After at least a month of travel, the forested mountains of northeast California were an ideal place to stop. There were clean streams to drink from, few humans to disrupt her, and a plentitude of prey to feed on… including thousands of cattle and sheep grazing on farms.

While LAS01F was the first female wolf in Lassen County in nearly a century, she wasn’t alone for long. Soon after her arrival, a young male wolf from a pack in southern Oregon showed up as well. The two wolves were compatible, which isn’t always the case. Wolves have distinct personalities and, despite the drive to mate, often don’t get along. 

The next spring, LAS01F birthed her first litter of pups. In 2020, she produced her fourth litter and expanded her family to at least 15. The Lassen pack, as it’s known, is the only wolf pack in California.

Amaroq Weiss, a wolf advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity, noted that “We, as Euro-Americans, hated wolves so much that we tried to wipe them off the earth. Now we have a very rare second chance to allow these beautiful, highly intelligent, ecologically essential animals to return. We still have the habitat for them in California, and the wolves are finding it. All we have to do is let them enter, and then let them live.”

While environmentalists are thrilled about the wolves’ return to California, many residents are frustrated and angry. 

What is causing the backlash? 

Many cattle and sheep ranchers claim that the wolves are killing their livestock, hunters worry that the wolves will decimate the already dwindling deer population, and some local residents are concerned for their safety.  In several areas, they are already creating policies that will deter the wolf population from growing.

How valid are their fears?

It depends who you ask. In the five years since LAS01F established her pack, the state fish and wildlife department has carried out more than 50 investigations to find out how much wolves were impacting livestock farming. While the number of confirmed wolf kills has grown steadily, in 2020, the pack had only killed eight head of livestock. To put this number in perspective, there are an estimated 38,630 cattle and calves in Lassen County, and hundreds die every year from disease, birthing problems and harsh weather.

But, the ranchers have their own collection of anecdotal evidence that contradicts the official reports. 

Wallace Roney is a rancher who has been raising cattle in California since the 1850s. His forefathers helped eradicate the wolf from the state. 

In October 2017, the first confirmed wolf kill in over a century happened on Roney’s land. Since then, he claims to have lost many more of his livestock to the wolves.

Cattle rancher and county administrative officer Richard Egan agrees with Roney that the wolves are killing many more livestock than the official investigations show: “If you find one killed, there’s seven you don’t find.” 

Egan and the Board of Supervisors have called on the fish and game commission to remove the gray wolf from the California endangered species act so that they can be trapped and shot.

How can we help wolves return and keep farmers happy?

In other states, compensation programs have been helpful in dealing with opposition to the wolves. In November 2020, the Lassen County Board of Supervisors approved a resolution calling for state compensation when pets, livestock, or working animals are killed by wolves, mountain lions, or bears, but there is not yet funding to back up the resolution. But, hopefully that will change in time.

In the past, the survival of wolves in North America depended on access to prey, water, and resistance to disease. Now it depends on advocacy campaigns, political support, and legal protection. In California, where the environmental movement is strong, the future looks fairly bright for wolves.