California

California is seeing the re-emergence of gray wolves a century after the last of them was shot dead. The native species completely vanished from the state after the last gray wolf was killed in 1924. However, their population has once again started to grow.

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According to the state's gray wolf officials, at least 30 new wolf pups were born across California’s wolf packs this spring. Axel Hunnicutt, the state gray wolf coordinator for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, says that this was the biggest jump recorded in the number of California wolves in a century.

Gray wolves have been a controversial topic in California and have seen a huge surge in number in the past years. Hunnicutt told SF Gate that 70 pups were born in the last seven years in the state. 

Gray wolves made a return to California after wolf OR-7 came from Oregon to Siskiyou County in 2011. After just four years, the first pack of wolves in recent times came into existence in the state.

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However, it is only now that the wolves are making their presence felt with their howling. The gray wolf population more than doubled between 2022 and 2023. From just 18 wolves the number went to over 40 last year. The number of packs has also risen from three to seven, according to Hunnicutt. 

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Some of them have now moved from the northeast to the far south, including the southern Sierra Nevada.

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How did the wolves return?

Experts say that this is largely because of the federal protection provided to the wolves under the California Endangered Species Act. It makes it illegal for them to be hunted down unless they are about to harm a human. “Having [the gray wolf] come back is amazing,” Amaroq Weiss, a wolf advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, told SF Gate.

However, there are others who are facing negative consequences of their return. The wolves have killed several calves, and Janna Gliatto, a manager at Table Rock Ranch, told the publication that they feel helpless. “Our hands are tied. We’ve been invaded," she said.