SACRAMENTO— The California Department of Fish and Wildlife today publicly launched a new mapping system to provide recent, generalized locations of collared wolves in the state. The map aims to help livestock owners know when to proactively use nonlethal conflict prevention methods to help prevent conflicts between livestock and wolves.
“Coexistence sometimes requires trying new things so I’m excited that Californians can use this map to learn more about how our wolves move through the state,” said Amaroq Weiss, a senior wolf advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “I’m hopeful that livestock operators will responsibly use the map to head off conflict and I appreciate that the state stands ready to pull the plug immediately if anyone abuses this new system to harm wolves.”
Not all of California’s wolves are radio-collared, but collared wolves’ GPS units send location data to satellites several times each day. The data downloads daily to department computers. The map reflects this daily location data in the form of a nearly four-and-a-half square mile hexagon for each wolf. The size of the hexagons aims to protect the wolves from people who might try to find and harm them.
Livestock conflicts with wolves are rare in any state with wolves. In California, confirmed and probable wolf-caused losses in 2024 amounted to just 0.009% of California’s livestock.
Researchers around the globe have consistently shown that proactive nonlethal conflict prevention measures are far more effective at preventing conflict than killing wolves. Shooting wolves can ultimately increase conflict as diminished packs seek out easier meals like unguarded cattle and sheep.
The map released today can inform responsible ranchers about when to increase prevention measures like deploying range riders and guard animals, removing livestock carcasses from the field and using fence flags.
“Livestock-wolf conflicts are rare but both ranchers and wolves will benefit if we make them rarer still by giving a heads up when wolves are in the area so ranchers can act responsibly,” said Weiss. “Most Californians want wolves back on the landscape and they’ll support ranchers who show they’re willing to coexist with wolves by proactively preventing conflicts.”
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.
“Coexistence sometimes requires trying new things so I’m excited that Californians can use this map to learn more about how our wolves move through the state,” said Amaroq Weiss, a senior wolf advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “I’m hopeful that livestock operators will responsibly use the map to head off conflict and I appreciate that the state stands ready to pull the plug immediately if anyone abuses this new system to harm wolves.”
Not all of California’s wolves are radio-collared, but collared wolves’ GPS units send location data to satellites several times each day. The data downloads daily to department computers. The map reflects this daily location data in the form of a nearly four-and-a-half square mile hexagon for each wolf. The size of the hexagons aims to protect the wolves from people who might try to find and harm them.
Livestock conflicts with wolves are rare in any state with wolves. In California, confirmed and probable wolf-caused losses in 2024 amounted to just 0.009% of California’s livestock.
Researchers around the globe have consistently shown that proactive nonlethal conflict prevention measures are far more effective at preventing conflict than killing wolves. Shooting wolves can ultimately increase conflict as diminished packs seek out easier meals like unguarded cattle and sheep.
The map released today can inform responsible ranchers about when to increase prevention measures like deploying range riders and guard animals, removing livestock carcasses from the field and using fence flags.
“Livestock-wolf conflicts are rare but both ranchers and wolves will benefit if we make them rarer still by giving a heads up when wolves are in the area so ranchers can act responsibly,” said Weiss. “Most Californians want wolves back on the landscape and they’ll support ranchers who show they’re willing to coexist with wolves by proactively preventing conflicts.”
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.
