Written by: Caroline Brown
Three cheers to another edition of Good News Friday! Today we’ll be taking a look at California’s strides in gray wolf conservation!
Gray wolves were extirpated from California nearly a century ago, with the last state-documented gray wolf being killed in 1924. However, ever since 2011, when a gray wolf traipsed from Oregon to California in search of a mate, their presence in the state has made a comeback. The first stable pack was recorded in 2015 and their numbers have increased since. This past January the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) collared 12 wild gray wolves in Northern California. In total there are 16 satellite-collared wolves in California, which is more than there ever has been before. This gives wolf conservationists hope and excitement. “The captures exceeded our expectations and will enhance our ability to monitor our wolf population both for conservation and recovery and also to help mitigate conflict with livestock,” says Axel Hunnicutt, CDFW’s statewide gray wolf coordinator.
Ground teams and contracted helicopters were used to track down previously collared wolves, resulting in capture of wolves from the Whaleback, Harvey, and Beyem Seyo packs. Wolves were either darted or netted, and flown to a CDFW basecamp where, in addition to being collared, their blood and DNA were drawn. These collected samples are crucial for biologists to monitor the wolves’ health and to learn how to mitigate the spread of disease amongst the packs.
Out of the 12 new wolves collared, five are male, seven are female, and 8 have been born within the past two years. “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,” says Hunnicutt. As wolves grow out of their infancies, they tend to leave their parental pack to start their own, and by having younger wolves collared the CDFW will already be able to monitor those new packs.
These newly collared wolves can also help reduce conflicts with Californian livestock owners. With more wolves being tracked by satellites, the CDFW can give ranchers accurate data on wolf movement, letting them know when to deploy non-lethal deterrents such as radio broadcasting, fladry flags, and fox lights. This will put less financial strain on ranchers whose livestock are attacked by wolves, and in turn reduce the amount of illegal wolf kills.
Although wolves just started their comeback in the Golden State barely 10 years ago, things are starting to look up for these furry friends!
Sources:
https://wildlife.ca.gov/News/Archive/cdfw-captures-and-collars-12-gray-wolves-in-northern-california
https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-02-19/twelve-gray-wolves-collared-in-california