Dozen Northern California gray wolves fitted with tracking collars
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — Over the last decade, federally endangered gray wolves began a natural recolonization in California, leading to several new wolf packs within the state. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) announced Friday it recently captured 12 wolves across three packs and fit them with tracking collars as scientists seek to improve recovery efforts and mitigate conflict with livestock.
The CDFW's gray wolf capture operations began in mid-January across four Northern California counties, including Siskiyou, Lassen, Plumas and Sierra, wildlife officials said. Each wolf was fitted with a satellite-tracking collar as scientists recorded measurements and collected blood and DNA samples.
'Those samples allow CDFW to monitor wolves for diseases and to determine the relatedness of individuals and packs,' officials said.
Seven of the collared wolves were female, and five were male. All 12 wolves were then released at their original capture locations, according to CDFW.
The tracking will 'help monitor populations, understand landscape use patterns and minimize livestock conflicts,' officials said.
Wildlife officials called the wolf packs 'fluid' in a news release Friday. While two new wolf packs were identified at the end of 2024, and there were nine recorded wolf packs in California in the fall of 2024, the number as of February 2025 is now seven. In one instance, two of the wolf packs recently merged, CDFW said.
'Having multiple collars in each of these packs, especially those on younger wolves, will not only aid current studies looking at diet and land-use preferences, but also will provide data on when and where they disperse when leaving their packs,' CDFW's Statewide Gray Wolf Coordinator Axel Hunnicutt said.
The collars are set to automatically drop off the wolves before the batteries are depleted, which can take two to three years, CDFW said.
The collaring of a dozen gray wolves in Northern California coincides with the release of UC Berkeley's California Wolf Project 2024 annual report on Jan. 31. The project, which began to deploy 189 camera traps in June 2024, seeks to investigate California's 'wolf habitat use, diet, relationships and other wildlife and wolf-livestock conflict,' CDFW said.
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