Wolf dies in collaring operation, second unplanned death in state hands
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Biologists fit collars on five wolves; a Harvey female died during the operation.
- Second unplanned wolf death in six months tied to state interactions.
- Legislature held hearings as rural areas seek more authority amid attacks.
A female gray wolf died after it was captured by California wildlife officers to be fitted with a tracking collar, the second unplanned death of one of the protected animals during an interaction with state officials in six months.
The death of the wolf, a breeding member of the Harvey pack from Lassen and Shasta Counties, comes amid growing interest in the state’s stewardship of the predator canines, whose return from local extinction has been fraught with concern about public safety along with worries from environmentalists that aggressive interventions could harm the species’ return.
“California’s wolves are still recovering and the state must tread carefully to ensure these fragile packs don’t backslide,” said Amaroq Weiss, a senior wolf advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s just so heartbreaking that the Harvey pack was robbed of its matriarch, especially in the middle of wolf breeding season.”
The wolf died during the state’s efforts last month to place collars on more wolves as a way to track their movements, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said. Unlike previous operations to collar the animals, the collaring work conducted on Jan. 12 and Jan. 20 did not include observers from the general public or any local media.
In October, a juvenile wolf from the Beyem Seyo pack in Sierra County was shot to death by a CDFW officer who mistook it for one of three adult animals that had been preying on cattle from local ranches.
Complicated return of wolves
Wolves began to return to California in 2011, when a male dubbed OR-7 crossed the border from Oregon into Siskiyou County, the first known sighting of a gray wolf in the state since 1924. The animals, protected under the federal, and soon the state, endangered species acts, were greeted like canine celebrities, as residents watched their movements and eagerly followed the birth of pups via trail cameras and media reports.
The state soon developed a plan for wolf recovery that included powerful protections and aimed to also protect ranchers and others whose livestock might at times be threatened by wolves seeking food.
But last year, one of the state’s 10 resurgent wolf packs became unusually habituated to hunting and eating livestock instead of wild prey. The Beyem Seo pack killed more than 92 calves and sheep in just over six months, ranging close to ranches, homes and schools and terrifying local families.
The state spent more than $2 million on nonlethal efforts to drive the wolves away from human communities, working day and night over the summer to frighten them with drones, flags, rubber bullets and beanbags, among other methods. But the efforts proved futile.
In October, officials at CDFW decided to remove the pack and developed a plan to euthanize its three adults and move four pups to a sanctuary. But a wildlife officer shooting from a helicopter mistook one of the juveniles for an adult, shooting and killing it by mistake. Another of the juveniles died from what appeared to be natural causes, and the remaining two were never captured or located.
Since then, worries about wolf attacks in rural communities have only grown, following an attack in Lassen County led to the death of a calf and a family’s pet horse. Local sheriffs have stepped up their efforts to warn residents of wolf sightings, posting alerts on social media that have garnered hundreds of comments from both concerned residents and environmentalists angry that the animals are the focus of so much fear and anger.
California’s wolf management plan limits the measures that individuals and law enforcement officers can take to harm wolves or frighten them away. Ranchers have argued that the rules make protecting their livestock and families more difficult, and local law enforcement officers say they need more authority to remove wolves that pose a threat to people and animals.
Last week, the legislature held its first informational committee hearing on how to deal with threats from protected predators, including wolves, a sign that the issue has reached the ears of state politicians and the Newsom administration. Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot told lawmakers at the hearing that the issue had become “a full-blown crisis” in many rural communities.
Wolf deaths could mean fewer management tools
The tools that officials and residents are allowed to use to haze and monitor wolves could become more restrictive, however, after the deaths of the two females, because of the rules embedded in the California wolf management plan.
The recent success of wolves in improving their population in California to include four successful breeding pairs triggered the start of a new phase of the plan. It allowed for more aggressive hazing of the animals to keep them away from homes and livestock. But a reduction of two females from those ranks could push the state back to an earlier level of the plan, which carries more stringent restrictions.
One tool the state has used to monitor the whereabouts of the state’s wolves has been to fit around a dozen of them with collars that use GPS technology to track them. Because some older collars stopped working and some collared wolves died, biologists embarked on fitting more animals with the devices Jan. 12 and Jan. 20.
Five wolves were successfully collared, bringing the total wearing them to 13. The wolf that died would have been the sixth to wear a collar, officials said.
CDWF did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Bee about the wolf’s death, other than to confirm that local media and members of the public did not attend the collaring. The state did invite the photographers from National Geographic to attend.
But in a news release, the agency said that factors contributing to the Harvey pack female wolf’s death were being investigated.
“Wildlife capture operations inherently carry risk to captured animals,” the release said.
This story was originally published February 6, 2026 at 1:46 PM with the headline "Wolf dies in collaring operation, second unplanned death in state hands."
