There’s an adage about bears in the woods. It’s a tongue-in-cheek commentary about what’s obvious in life. Ranchers have known for years that the presence of wolves near livestock has a negative effect on everything from weight gain and maintenance to overall animal stress.
A recent study released by researchers from the University of California, Davis confirms much of what ranchers have observed since the first gray wolf pack was observed in Siskiyou County in 2015. The study findings quantified the potential financial, physical, and stress damage to livestock:
- 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; and
- Hair cortisol levels were elevated in cattle that ranged in areas with wolves, indicating an increase in stress.
With these findings available, policymakers can begin to better address how to craft management plans that offer fair value for lost livestock while bearing in mind the desires of tribal and conservation partners.
California is home to about 670,000 beef cattle, many of them on range, or grazed, at some point during their lifecycle. Comparatively, most recent gray wolf populations are about estimated at about 50 gray wolves statewide.
Now is the ideal time for the state to address management needs with a coalition of affected stakeholders that includes ranchers, tribal representatives, conservationists, and state fish and wildlife representatives. The state must address the need to establish a fund offering reimbursement for direct and indirect losses suffered by ranchers as well as establishing space for habitat needs.
An ongoing review of rules and regulations is also critical to ensure the state keeps up with the most recent research available relating to gray wolf biology and dispersal within the state. As California determines what it wishes gray wolf management to be, the state should consider gleaning the best pieces of management practices from the states in which gray wolves reside around it and discarding what does not work or lags behind the best available research.
The study by UC-Davis highlights and confirms what ranchers have shared with one another for years. By solidifying that common knowledge, researchers have given the ranching community and the state an opportunity to partner in finding ways to work together toward management solutions that are mutually beneficial in the long- and short-term.
Pam Lewison is the Director of Agriculture Research at the Washington Policy Center and a Pacific Research Institute fellow. She co-owns and operates a family farm in Eastern Washington state.
