Motion-activated field cameras, GPS collars, wolf scat analysis and cattle tail hair samples are helping University of California, Davis, researchers shed new light on how an expanding and protected gray wolf population is affecting cattle operations, leading to millions of dollars in losses.
•
Report: Wolf Attacks on Cattle Are Leading to Millions of Dollars in Losses
Long believed extinct in California, a lone gray wolf was seen entering the Golden State from Oregon in 2011, and a pack was spotted in Siskiyou County in 2015. By the end of 2024, seven wolf packs were documented with evidence of the animals in four other locations. As wolves proliferated, ranchers in those areas feared they would prey on cattle.
Tina Saitone, a University of California, Davis professor and cooperative Extension specialist in livestock and rangeland economics, sought to quantify the direct and indirect costs after the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) launched a pilot program to compensate ranchers for wolf-related losses.
“There’s not really any research in the state on the economic consequences of an apex predator interacting with livestock,” Saitone says in a release from UC Davis about the project.
Results from the study include:
- One wolf can cause between $69,000 and $162,000 in direct and indirect losses from lower pregnancy rates in cows and decreased weight gain in calves
- Total indirect losses are estimated to range from $1.4 million to $3.4 million depending on moderate or severe impacts from wolves across the three packs
- 72% of wolf scat samples tested during the 2022 and 2023 summer seasons contained cattle DNA
- Hair cortisol levels were elevated in cattle that ranged in areas with wolves, indicating an increase in stress
According to the Public Lands Council, “The recovery of the gray wolf is a success story for the Endangered Species Act, and the time is now to recognize that success. Delist wolves now.”
They encourage producers to contact their members of Congress and ask them to support H.R. 845, The Pet and Livestock Protection Act of 2025.
In the press
The “Los Angeles Times” published an article on April 21 “Beautiful, deadly: Wolves stalk rural California.” Cattleman Joel Torres was interviewed for the article and shared how wolves are tearing into baby calves and yearlings.
In the article, Torres explained what the apex predators do to the cattle in his care at Prather Ranch, an organic farm in Siskiyou County dedicated to raising beef in a natural, stress-free environment.
Wolves often attack from behind and rip victims apart while they’re trying to flee. Once they bring a cow or calf to the ground, the pack will pick around, eat the good stuff, particularly the rectum and udders, and then leave them and go to the next one, Torres says.
https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=476&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fsierracosheriff%2Fvideos%2F660195923398015%2F&show_text=false&width=267&t=0
There’s no saving the calves that have been attacked by the wolves. He explains he’d like to shoot the wolves, at least a few, to teach the pack that there are “consequences to coming around here and tearing into our cattle.”
But the predators remain on the state’s endangered species list, and aggressive measures to control their behavior are strictly forbidden.
Not just California
Wolf attacks are not confined in California. Since wolves were reintroduced in Colorado in December 2023, ranchers have also been dealing with depredation of calves.
As reported by Drovers, the wolves released in Colorado were from packs in Oregon that were known to have killed livestock in 2022 and 2023.
