By Miriam Raftery

Photos:  2017 gray wolf litter, courtesy Calif. Department of Fish and Wildlife

July 31, 2019 (Lassen) – Like the grizzly bear, wolves were exterminated from Califiornia in the 1920s. But now they are making a comeback.

In the past several years, wolves have crossed into northern California from Oregon—and several litters of wolf pups have been born.  In 2014, gray wolves received endangered species protection status from the state of California.

 

June 8, 2013 (Julian) – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released its proposal this week to remove Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves across most of the country. Only the Mexican gray wolf, a subspecies of which only about 75 exist in the wild in Arizona and New Mexico, would retain federal protections. Without federal protections, states can decide whether to protect wolves or remove or reduce populations that begin to establish.

“This proposal is bad news for wolves still on the path to recovery, including in California,” says Patrick Valentino, director of California wolf recovery efforts for the California Wolf Center in Julian, a nonprofit wildlife conservation, education and research center that has been working to reestablish gray wolves to their native habitat. “Wolves have a long way to go before they are fully restored to their crucial role on the landscape.”