Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) recently euthanized several wolves following an “unprecedented” streak of livestock depredations. According to a recent press release, wolves from the Bayem Seyo Pack in the Sierra Valley of Eastern California, were responsible for a whopping 70 confirmed livestock losses from September 10, 2025 to October 14, 2025. That number accounts for over 60% of total livestock losses in the state during that timeframe.
Before the lethal management action was taken, CDFW officials employed “extensive adaptive management deterrence efforts, including the use of drones, non-lethal bean bags, all-terrain vehicles, foot presence, diversionary feeding, fladry installation, and field presence 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
However, the wolf pack had shifted its behavior to considering its primary food source to be cattle, which officials say, “threatens both livestock and the ecological integrity of wolf recovery.” Lethal action ensued, with staffers euthanizing the pack’s breeding pair, an adult male, and a juvenile male that was initially mistaken for the adult male.
“This decision was not made lightly nor was it easy,” said CDFW Director Charlton H. Bonham. “The situation with this pack is far outside any comparable experience across the state or the West…[they] became so reliant on cattle at an unprecedented level, and we could not break the cycle, which ultimately is not good for the long-term recovery of wolves or for people.”
During the course of the operation, officials also found the remains of two juvenile wolves that had already died. Wildlife management staffers are working to capture three remaining wolves from the pack and relocate them to a wildlife sanctuary.
Livestock depredations caused by wolves are not incredibly common, but they do occur in the Western U.S., and unfortunately, wolves known to prey on livestock tend to be repeat offenders. Wolves had been extirpated in California about 100 years ago. The state has not conducted any reintroduction efforts like other places in the West. However, starting in 2011, they began to extend their range into the Golden State from Oregon. Most California wolves live in the northeast of the state, with one pack in the Southern Sierras. They are protected under the Endangered Species Act, as they are elsewhere in the Lower 48, except for the Northern Rocky Mountain Population. The recent action marks the first lethal action California has taken against wolves since they began to recolonize parts of the state.
That said, California is far from being the only state to struggle with balancing the presence of wolves with ranching communities in the West. Colorado, in particular, has had a bumpy and controversial voter-mandated wolf reintroduction that began in 2023. The Copper Creek Wolfpack, for instance, was introduced to the state from Oregon, where one of the wolves already had a history of livestock depredations. In the Centennial State, the pack was responsible for a string of depredation events in 2024, prompting Colorado Parks & Wildlife to capture, hold in captivity, and then relocate the wolves. However, despite the male wolf seen as primarily responsible for this behavior dying, the pack continued attacking livestock in 2025, injuring or killing at least seven cattle in a short span and prompting lethal action against one of the wolves. CPW searched for but failed to find another wolf involved in the depredations.
Ultimately, the recent incidents in California and Colorado underscore the difficulties of managing the apex predators when their range inevitably intersects with livestock producers. Meanwhile, a recent study showed that the regulated sport hunting of wolves in Montana and Idaho—both states where the species is not protected under the ESA—had only minimal impact in preventing livestock depredations, in part because chronic depredations from certain packs are so common.
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