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- The California Department of Fish and Wildlife captured, collared and released 12 gray wolves in Northern California.
- State wildlife officials say the effort will help them monitor the expanding wolf population as well as provide information to ranchers who can lose cattle to wolves.
- Wolves were extirpated in California in the 1920s and only recently began to rebound.
Wildlife officials have collared a dozen gray wolves in Northern California in an effort to better understand and manage the species that has made a comeback in the state after being extirpated a century ago.
There are now more satellite-collared wolves in the Golden State than ever before — 16 — which will mean enhanced monitoring of the growing wolf population.
The endangered apex predator’s resurgence is lauded as a conservation success story, but comes with challenges, including an increase in attacks on cattle and other livestock.
“It’s really opening a lot of doors for us in terms of being able to get a lot more data, inform a lot more livestock producers and do a lot more in-depth research,” said Axel Hunnicutt, statewide gray wolf coordinator for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The collaring by the state agency took place last month, when aerial and ground teams worked together to capture wolves in Siskiyou, Lassen and Sierra counties from packs with at least one previously collared wolf, officials said.
A contracted helicopter team followed the radio frequency emitted by the collars and essentially chased the wolves down, sometimes netting them or darting them from the sky, according to Hunnicutt.
The wolves were flown to a base camp where a state crew outfitted them with satellite collars and completed a workup that included taking body measurements and blood and DNA samples.
The animals were ultimately driven close to where they were captured and released.
Five wolves were captured from the Beyem Seyo pack in Sierra County, including one that had been previously collared. Another five were captured from the Harvey pack in Lassen County, including one that had been previously collared, and two were captured from the Whaleback pack in Siskiyou County.
The number of captures exceeded expectations, Hunnicutt said. Of the recently collared wolves, four were adults and the rest were born last year or the year before that. Seven were female and five were male.
Hunnicutt said that the deployed collars will help state scientists track the state’s wolf population, which was estimated to be at least 70 in the fall of last year, up from 44 in 2023.
Collaring a good number of younger wolves was significant, he said. Packs are largely made up of two adults and their offspring; eventually the younger wolves disperse and attempt to form other packs.
“The fact that we were able to get so many collars on younger animals means that we’ll be able to learn more about where they disperse to,” as well as their chance of survival, he said. “And for those that do start new packs, we’ll already have collars in those packs from this effort.”
There are now seven known wolf packs in California, down from nine reported in the fall, according to CDFW. The state agency said packs can be fluid and noted that two packs recently merged.
California’s gray wolves were hunted and trapped to extirpation about 100 years ago, with the last documented wild wolf shot in 1924.
The species’ stunning recolonization of the state began in 2011 when a wolf from northeastern Oregon ventured over state lines. He didn’t stay, and the first verified pack didn’t take hold until 2015.
The population started to take off a couple of years ago and is now poised for “almost exponential” growth, Hunnicutt said in November.
Conservationists see the wolves’ comeback as a testament to the protections afforded them. They’re listed as endangered under state and federal law.
Amaroq Weiss, a senior wolf advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, a conservation group, hailed the recent collaring effort as a means for state wildlife officials to more carefully monitor the animals and inform the public about the “magnificent species.”
“Wolf recovery in our state is still in its infancy and more information is always welcome,” she said in a statement.
The recently collared wolves are in areas where livestock conflict occurs, and the tracking data is also expected to shed light on that activity and provide additional information to ranchers to decrease conflict. Wolves feast on cattle, which can threaten the livelihood of ranchers.
“For instance, this morning, we would have sent out rough locations of where the wolves were the night before to each area where there’s livestock producers to let them know that, hey, if you’re on this side of this valley, you might want to deploy range riders or other nonlethal deterrents,” Hunnicutt said.
Livestock conflict and other complex issues related to the polarizing species prompted the state wildlife agency to partner with UC Berkeley to conduct research it hopes will fill in knowledge gaps and guide management. The multi-year California Wolf Project launched last year and just released its first annual report.
California wildlife officials also recently reported that the state’s southernmost wolf pack in Tulare County is suffering from sarcoptic mange, a disease caused by parasitic mites that can cause itchy skin lesions and hair loss.
Some wolves only experience mild symptoms and can clear the infection and survive. But others may suffer from severe disease marked by extensive hair loss, secondary bacterial infections, emaciation and, eventually, death.
Mange isn’t rare and has affected other canids in the state, including coyotes.
Hunnicutt said the pack has changed its movement, which may be due to the fact that several of the wolves have lost quite a bit of hair — making them vulnerable to exposure in the mountains during wintertime. The animals have moved into the valleys where it’s warmer.
