This article examines the growth of California’s wolf population. The gray wolf was extirpated from California in the 1920s but is slowly making a comeback. Below the article discusses what California Fish and Wildlife is doing to increase wolf populations.
This past spring, at least three gray wolves were born in Lassen or Plumas counties, authorities reported. With just a handful of wolves still in California, experts say the pups represent a positive step forward toward statewide wolf recovery.
The gray wolf is a Californian native species, but was extirpated from the state in the 1920s, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. In the late 1990s, several states including California began efforts to reintroduce the species. But progress has been slow in California.
The new pups were born around April 15, 2019, from a female breeding wolf of the second and only known pack in California, the Lassen Pack.
After the pups were caught on camera, experts from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the national Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services spent nine days trying to trap and radio collar the wolves to track their location, but they said in a quarterly report they were unsuccessful.
While the exact number of gray wolves in California is uncertain, a wolf biologist with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife told The Mercury News the three pups raise the total in the state to between seven and 10.
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