Gray wolves caught on a trail camera in the California backcountry. (Courtesy of California Department of Fish and Wildlife)
For decades, gray wolves were thought to have been hunted and poisoned into extinction in California, with the last sighting of the animal in the 1920s.
But that changed in late 2011, when a wolf wearing a radio collar crossed into the state from Oregon.
In the years since, California’s gray wolf population has grown into the dozens, with most roaming the far northern part of the state. State Department of Fish and Wildlife officials say wolfpack activity has been reported in Shasta, Lassen, Plumas and Sierra counties. But in some of those areas, like Modoc County, the wolf’s reappearance is fueling a backlash — especially among cattle ranchers, who see the apex predator as a growing menace.
“They have lost all fear of humans and are coming in and killing livestock in very close proximity to ranch houses that are occupied with families,” said Ned Coe, a Modoc County supervisor and rancher.
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He added that more ranchers in the region are losing their cattle to wolf attacks as the predators shift their hunting targets from wild game to livestock.
“What would your choice be? A very fast deer or a large, fast elk? Or a beef animal — out in what oftentimes is a very smooth, wide open pasture — that doesn’t run very fast or very far?” he asked. “Easy dinner.”
To protect their livestock, ranchers use a variety of non-lethal deterrents to keep the wolves away. That includes electric fencing and air horns programmed to emit blasts of sound at random times. Ranchers also use fladry, which are brightly colored strips of plastic or cloth tied to fences, to exploit wolves’ fear of unfamiliar objects and keep them away from herds.
Jessica Vigil, manager of Dixie Valley Ranch in Shasta County, has lost cattle to wolf attacks. (Saul Gonzalez/KQED)
But Jessica Vigil said wolves are canny predators that quickly adapt to measures used to scare them off. Vigil, manager of the Dixie Valley Ranch, which spans thousands of acres in Shasta County, said wolf attacks are increasing.
“In a short span of last fall in a month, we had five depredations confirmed by wolves,” Vigil said. “That is a cattle killed by a wolf. And then, last month, we had a set of twin calves that were born, they were killed.”
Since the wolves’ return to the state, no people have been injured or killed by the animals. Experts say that’s rare, but Modoc County Sheriff Tex Dowdy fears that could change.
“That is the absolute fear … that we get a call that somebody’s been attacked by one of these wolves and at that point it’s too late,” he said. “I feel like we haven’t done enough to protect our constituents, our folks, our kids. And that’s why we’re trying to get ahead of this.”
Cattle graze in a Modoc County pasture. (Saul Gonzalez/KQED)
So far, three counties in the state — Sierra, Plumas and Modoc — have declared a wolf-related state of emergency.
But wolves, which are native to California, are protected by both the federal and state endangered species acts. Officials and environmental groups, like the Center for Biological Diversity, want to make sure the animal’s population continues to rebound in the state.
“Something that was here from the beginning of time is back in California, and that’s amazing,” said Chuck Bonham, the director of California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife. He added that the reappearance is a natural process that should be welcomed.
“Our department didn’t go to Oregon. Our department did not go to Washington State. We did not pick up a wolf and bring it here,” he said. “What happened is nature played out, and she’s super tough and resilient if we give her a chance.”
A sign outside a Modoc County ranch echoes ranchers’ concerns about the dangers wolves pose. (Saul Gonzalez/KQED)
Bonham said the department estimates that there are between 50 and 80 gray wolves in California, which he called an “amazing story, ecologically.”
Department of Fish and Wildlife officials have started a number of programs to make sure the wolf’s reappearance doesn’t come at the expense of people and livestock.
That includes placing transmitters on captured wolves to track their movements and providing financial compensation to ranchers whose livestock have been killed by wolves.
Critical to determining whether wolves are responsible for livestock deaths is an unusual facility in a Sacramento office park. Filled with DNA testing equipment, it’s the state’s only wildlife forensic laboratory and helps lead investigations into “wildlife conflict,” including wolf attacks on livestock.
“We’re very similar to a human forensic lab,” said Erin Meredith, a forensic specialist with the Department of Fish and Wildlife. “The only difference is we work with more than one species.”
Meredith and her colleagues receive DNA samples from investigators in the field and analyze them to determine whether wolves are responsible for specific cattle deaths, instead of bears or mountain lions. The investigations also help determine whether a wolf actually attacked and killed cattle, or merely fed on carcasses that died from other causes.
“Those people in the field, as they’re doing their investigation, they’re going to collect swabs of the wounds, they’re gonna collect swabs of any areas of the animal that might have been fed on, in hopes of trying to obtain DNA from whatever species that was that did the damage to the animal,” she said. “We’re gonna get those swabs in and we’re gonna sample those for the DNA of that species.”
Sheriff William “Tex” Dowdy in his office in the Modoc County community of Alturas. Dowdy said he’s concerned about the possible threat of wolves to people, from children living on remote ranches to hikers camping in the backcountry. (Saul Gonzalez/KQED)
Back in places like Modoc County, ranchers and local officials want more than DNA testing, radio collars on wolves and financial compensation for lost cattle.
“You don’t want the wolves here,” Dowdy said. “I don’t want the wolves here. I wish we would do more to push them out instead of accept them into California.”
Dowdy added he thinks law enforcement should “be able to eliminate that threat when it becomes an imminent threat to public safety.” But wolf defenders say killing even some of the animals would be a tragic replay of what first drove the species to the vanishing point in the state for nearly a century.
They say that with additional precautions, such as the state studying the release of an online tool to track GPS-collared wolves, it’s possible for people and this predator — a symbol of the American West — to coexist.
