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Following the entry of gray wolf (Canis lupus) OR-93 into San Benito County in 2021, interest and concern about the species’ reentry on a more extensive basis into California has caught local residents’ attention.
According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), gray wolves were eradicated in California in the 1920s. Biologyinsights, a peer-reviewed online journal, states they “were eradicated from the state due to hunting and predator control efforts.”
CDFW adds that grey wolves from Oregon began a recolonization into California in 2011; the first wolf pack to be identified was the Shasta Pack in 2015.
According to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, wolves were exterminated from that state in the early 1900s. Wolves were reintroduced into Idaho in 1995-96, traveled to Oregon and began recolonizing northeast Oregon in 2008.
Today there are 10 confirmed wolf packs in California, located in Shasta, Plumas, Lassen, Siskiyou and Tulare counties.
Between 2013 and 2025, 10 lone collared wolves have been found outside of packs including the wolf identified as OR-93 that traveled through San Benito county. Six other individual wolves have been identified by DNA.
The wolves’ range, however, is expanding; there were two confirmed sightings of uncollared, unidentified wolves in Kern County in 2025.
There have been no confirmed sightings in San Benito County since OR-93 four years ago.
According to the U.S. Forest Service, there are 24 subspecies of gray wolves in North America, each adapted for its environment. Canis lupus fuscus subspecies, found in California, has a coat of black, white, gray, tan and even blue-ish.
Read this related story:
BL Special Report: Gray wolves return to California raises increasing concerns among ranchers
Since 2011, have migrated from Oregon into Northern California, and as far south as Tulare County
Twenty-nine-year-old Russell Tobias and his father Tom work cattle on the ranch where their large family has been plying its trade in San Benito County since the 1960s.
Russell Tobias spoke to BenitoLink about an issue that has the local ranching industry increasingly on edge: the repopulation of wolves in California and their migration south to areas less than 150 miles away.
Gray or black wolves are the most common color phase found to occur. They typically stand about 30 inches at the shoulder and weigh 85 to 115 pounds, although they can weigh as much as 145 pounds.
Diet
Several sources list the prey base of the California wolf as including a variety of hoofed mammals such as elk, black-tailed deer and other species such as beaver, salmon, vole and ground squirrels.
Gray wolves also prey on livestock and, according to CDFW, the agency works with livestock owners to ensure safety or to provide funding for lost animals.
Breeding and maturation
- Mating season: January to April
- Gestation period: 63 days
- Litter size: average five to six pups; weaned at 5 weeks
- Breeding age: 2 years, but often do not breed until 3 years due to social structure of the pack; usually only dominant male and female breed
- Life span: up to 16 years, but 10 years is considered old
- Pack size: averages 2 to 15, although 36 have been reported; packs are structured in a dominance hierarchy
Source: U.S. Forest Service
Domino effect
Wolf repopulation has a domino effect on the ecosystem. According to the Yellowstone National Park wolf introduction, “Wolves are causing a trophic cascade of ecological change, including helping to increase beaver populations and bring back aspen and vegetation.”
A report in geoaffairs.com, a site featuring geographer Richard Buettner, says regarding the introduction of wolves in Wyoming: “In the absence of wolves, populations of large ungulates exploded. The American wilderness underwent a drastic transformation as these rapidly expanding populations altered the ecosystem. The return of wolves triggered a series of unexpected and profound changes in the park’s ecosystem. The elk population was controlled, allowing vegetation to recover. This, in turn, benefited other species, from beavers to songbirds. Even the rivers changed, becoming more stable and less prone to erosion.”
The gray wolf is classified as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and the California Endangered Species Act, and as a Species of Greatest Conservation Need in the State Wildlife Action Plan.
More information
Livestock Protection Tools for California Ranchers
Information on Gray Wolf in California
Distinguishing Between Coyotes, Wolves, and Dogs
Related BenitoLink articles
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