Commentary by Crystal Emsoff
I attended a community meeting on wolves last night presented by California Department of Fish and Wildlife. It was the most frustrating, discouraging meeting I think I have ever attended. I went into the meeting feeling optimistic and hopeful (that’s my default) but I left with a sense of doom and dread. The best way I know to describe it is, “We are all just screwed.” Following are some highlights of the meeting. (Lowlights may be more appropriate.)
Blame the Victim
It’s our fault, whether residents in town or ranchers, for any conflict we have with the wolves. If you are in town, it’s because you are feeding the deer. (This is not actually occurring.) If you are a rancher, you have bone piles to attract the wolves (never mind that they are killing newborn calves far from bone piles and that California, in its infinite tyrannical wisdom doesn’t allow composting of dead livestock).
You also are not doing enough to haze the wolves. It doesn’t matter than you are watching your cattle 24 hours a day or chasing them to the neighbor’s on a four wheeler. You should be using scare boxes: AKA big jack-in-the-boxes that pop out and scare the wolves if they get too close. I am dead serious. Oh, and pyrotechnic guns that shoot flames and make a load noise. I’m sure that will go over real well in the woods during fire season. We can’t buy or use fireworks in California due to wildfire risk. Are pyrotechnic guns even legal? And you should be using fladry (red ribbons tied on a fence wire) and fox light (lights that flash at random times). CDFW readily admits that these things only work for a couple months at best until the wolves get used to them. After that? You’re just out of luck I guess.
False Promises
As outlined in the California Wolf Recovery Plan, once there were eight breeding pairs of wolves, we entered Phase 2. Phase 2 allows for the use of nonlethal projectiles to haze wolves. Except it really doesn’t. We cannot actually shoot wolves with rubber bullets or beanbags because it might kill one. It doesn’t matter if they are actively killing a calf. Or your dog for that matter. And the weapons only have a range of 40-75 feet. So what does Phase 2 really do? It lets CDFW TALK about shooting wolves with nonlethal projectiles.
Guilty Until Proven Innocent
Speaking of shooting wolves, there is $100,000 fine and jail time for killing a wolf. The ONLY time you can shoot one is if it is posing an immediate threat to human life. Just know, if you shoot one, you are considered guilty until proven innocent. These were the exact words of the CDFW Law Enforcement Officer. They do not have to prove that you are guilty. YOU have to prove that you shot the wolf in self defense. How exactly does one go about proving a wolf was about to attack? I guess we all better start wearing body cams anytime we step out our front doors considering these wolves have killed deer in fenced backyards and elk right on the doorstep of a home.
Moving the Goalposts
Back to the phases. Phase 2 was entered when there were eight breeding pairs of wolves for two consecutive years. We will enter Phase 3, which may allow lethal removal of problem wolves when there are ? breeding pairs of wolves for two consecutive years. No, that isn’t a typo. It was literally a question mark on their slide. They have no idea how many wolves it will take before they remove them from the Endangered Species List in California. There is NO target number in their Wolf Recovery Plan. Which means they can carry on business as usual INDEFINITELY.
Declining Wildlife
The deer herd in our region is declining. Of course this has nothing to do with wolves or other predators. It’s because they are getting hit by cars and drought. (We have not been in a drought the last two years.) CDFW has not actually counted the deer population since 2018. The best data they have to estimate rise or fall in the deer population are filled dear tags. Prior to 2023 over 30 tags a year were filled. Filled tags have declined rapidly as wolf numbers have increased. Last year it was just 16, indicating a sharply declining deer population.
Cattle as Wolf Food
Both UC Davis and CDFW’s own data has shown that cattle make up the majority of the diet of wolves in California. CDFW does not deny this. When asked if they are considering the availability of natural prey (deer and elk) to arrive at their elusive Phase 3 recovered number, no one had an answer. Not the biologist. Not the Regional Manager. Not her supervisor. It was, “I don’t know if they are considering prey base.” In other words, the powers that be are COUNTING on ranchers to grow this wolf population on their cattle.
Endless Protection
When pressed to say when the wolves would be removed from the Endangered Species List, the answer was when they are no longer at risk of extinction. There are 65,000 gray wolves in North America. That fact apparently is completely irrelevant in determining the status of gray wolves in California. They are endangered in California no matter how many there are in the rest of the world. And of course, we don’t know how many there has to be before they are no longer at risk of extinction.
Real Consequences
Wolves in the Sierra Valley have killed dozens of cattle in just the last two months. CDFW is behind in releasing their depredation reports. (I suspect they simply can’t keep up with them all.) Two more were killed in just the last two days. And there is NOTHING that will be done to stop them. These problem wolves will be allowed to continue killing as many cattle as they want for as long as they want. Period.
That’s the gist of it all. There is no light at the end of the tunnel. There is no silver lining. Our mountain paradise has become our daily nightmare and there is nothing that we can do about it.
