SACRAMENTO, Calif.— A century after wolves were wiped out in California, the iconic animals have mounted a promising comeback in the state, with a small population that has grown to at least 50 wolves, according to a California Department of Fish and Wildlife report released late Wednesday.
California’s first contemporary pack was established in 2015, and the report documents 10 years of wolf conservation and management in the state.
“The return of wolves to California is an epic tale and this report marks an important milestone in that story,” said Amaroq Weiss, a senior wolf advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “California’s decade of the wolf demonstrates that when essential legal protections are in place, there can be comeback stories for desperately imperiled animals.”
The new report touches on key aspects of wolf conservation in the state including natural history and biology; legal status; population monitoring; formation of wolf families and genetic relationships; wolf mortalities; monitoring for wolf health and exposure to rodenticides; managing livestock-wolf conflicts; and research. It also describes how California’s wolf conservation and management plan was developed.
Until now, the agency has been issuing quarterly wolf reports. Going forward, an annual report will be published each year.
While California’s first known wolf in modern times entered the state in late 2011, it was not until summer 2015 that the first wolf family here in 100 years, the Shasta pack, was confirmed. At the end of 2024, seven known packs composed of around 50 to 70 wolves ranged across multiple counties in California.
According to the report, between 2015 and 2024, the agency was able to collar 12 wolves across five packs, a known 21 litters of wolf pups were born, and there have been at least nine known wolf deaths.
Of these mortalities, cause of death could not be determined in four instances, three wolves died after being struck by vehicles, one wolf was killed illegally and one wolf’s death is still under investigation.
This spring, the agency confirmed the existence of an additional three packs, bringing the current tally to 10 known wolf families in the state. Nine of those packs are in northeastern California and one pack is 200 miles further south, near Sequoia National Forest.
“California’s wolves are still in the infancy of their recovery, and ongoing legal protections are essential to keep their small population growing,” said Weiss. “This 10-year report is worth celebrating but California gets this opportunity to celebrate only because we’ve decided wolves are worth protecting.”
Background
The first wolf in nearly a century to make California part of his range was OR-7, a radio-collared wolf from Oregon that entered California in late 2011. OR-7 traveled across seven northeastern counties in California before returning to southwestern Oregon, where he found a mate and settled down, forming the Rogue pack.
Several of OR-7’s offspring have since come to California and established packs. Those include the original breeding male of the Lassen pack and the breeding female of the Yowlumni pack residing in Tulare County. The Shasta pack, California’s first confirmed wolf pack in nearly 100 years, was discovered in 2015 but disappeared a few months later.
The gray wolf (Canis lupus) is native to California but was driven to extinction in the state by the mid-1920s. After OR-7 left Oregon for California, the Center and allies successfully petitioned the state to fully protect wolves under California’s endangered species act. Wolves are also federally protected in California under the federal Endangered Species Act. It is illegal to intentionally kill any wolves in the state except in defense of human life.
California’s first contemporary pack was established in 2015, and the report documents 10 years of wolf conservation and management in the state.
“The return of wolves to California is an epic tale and this report marks an important milestone in that story,” said Amaroq Weiss, a senior wolf advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “California’s decade of the wolf demonstrates that when essential legal protections are in place, there can be comeback stories for desperately imperiled animals.”
The new report touches on key aspects of wolf conservation in the state including natural history and biology; legal status; population monitoring; formation of wolf families and genetic relationships; wolf mortalities; monitoring for wolf health and exposure to rodenticides; managing livestock-wolf conflicts; and research. It also describes how California’s wolf conservation and management plan was developed.
Until now, the agency has been issuing quarterly wolf reports. Going forward, an annual report will be published each year.
While California’s first known wolf in modern times entered the state in late 2011, it was not until summer 2015 that the first wolf family here in 100 years, the Shasta pack, was confirmed. At the end of 2024, seven known packs composed of around 50 to 70 wolves ranged across multiple counties in California.
According to the report, between 2015 and 2024, the agency was able to collar 12 wolves across five packs, a known 21 litters of wolf pups were born, and there have been at least nine known wolf deaths.
Of these mortalities, cause of death could not be determined in four instances, three wolves died after being struck by vehicles, one wolf was killed illegally and one wolf’s death is still under investigation.
This spring, the agency confirmed the existence of an additional three packs, bringing the current tally to 10 known wolf families in the state. Nine of those packs are in northeastern California and one pack is 200 miles further south, near Sequoia National Forest.
“California’s wolves are still in the infancy of their recovery, and ongoing legal protections are essential to keep their small population growing,” said Weiss. “This 10-year report is worth celebrating but California gets this opportunity to celebrate only because we’ve decided wolves are worth protecting.”
Background
The first wolf in nearly a century to make California part of his range was OR-7, a radio-collared wolf from Oregon that entered California in late 2011. OR-7 traveled across seven northeastern counties in California before returning to southwestern Oregon, where he found a mate and settled down, forming the Rogue pack.
Several of OR-7’s offspring have since come to California and established packs. Those include the original breeding male of the Lassen pack and the breeding female of the Yowlumni pack residing in Tulare County. The Shasta pack, California’s first confirmed wolf pack in nearly 100 years, was discovered in 2015 but disappeared a few months later.
The gray wolf (Canis lupus) is native to California but was driven to extinction in the state by the mid-1920s. After OR-7 left Oregon for California, the Center and allies successfully petitioned the state to fully protect wolves under California’s endangered species act. Wolves are also federally protected in California under the federal Endangered Species Act. It is illegal to intentionally kill any wolves in the state except in defense of human life.
