Apex predators recorded near California national park a century after being wiped out
A brand new family of endangered apex predators was recorded hanging around one of northern California’s national parks — one century after populations were wiped out.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s gray wolf activity map for November shows a pack has been spending time on U.S. Forest Service land just south of Lassen Volcanic National Park.
The agency first detected the pack from camera trap footage that showed a breeding pair of adult wolves and their two pups, which qualifies the group as a pack, Axel Hunnicutt, the department’s gray wolf coordinator, told McClatchy News in an email.
The pack is not necessarily living within the national park because wolf territories can be vast, but the group could be “utilizing portions of the park,” especially given its recent activity near the park’s southern boundary, he said.
The pack is also now the closest to the park so far, he said.
“This finding is also significant as it marks the 9th current pack in California, and the 10th in modern times since wolves began recolonizing CA in the 2010s,” he said. “As this group was found to have pups, we will be working to monitor their survival into the new year as this will help quantify the recovery of the state’s wolf population.”
The gray wolf is a recovering endangered species protected under California and federal law, the department said on its website. The native species was eradicated in California in the 1920s and was gone for nearly a century until wolves dispersed from packs in other states and returned to California.
California Wolf Watch shared information about the pack on Facebook on Sunday, Nov. 17, and several people celebrated the discovery in the comments.
“Yay!! We needed this shot of hope,” someone said.
This story was originally published November 19, 2024 at 12:57 PM with the headline "Apex predators recorded near California national park a century after being wiped out."
