SAN FRANCISCO — Wildlife crews are no longer actively searching for two juvenile gray wolves who were part of a pack that killed dozens of cows and calves last summer in Northern California\u2019s Sierra Valley, an official said Tuesday. <\/p>\n
The two wolves were members of the Beyem Seyo pack that in 2025 killed or injured at least 92 calves and cows in a seven-month period, according to a report released last week by two researchers with the University of California, Davis.<\/p>\n
Wolves in the state are protected under California law and the federal Endangered Species Act. Under former President Joe Biden, officials said they planned a first-ever national recovery plan<\/a> for wolves, but President Donald Trump\u2019s administration ended that initiative<\/a> in November.<\/p>\n In October, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced it had euthanized four gray wolves \u2014 three adults and a juvenile \u2014 from the Beyem Seyo pack after \u201can unprecedented level of livestock attacks across the Sierra Valley\u201d by a single wolf pack since the canids returned to the state. It also said it planned to capture and relocate the remaining two wolves to wildlife facilities to prevent their behavior from spreading to other wolves in California. <\/p>\n Gray wolves primarily prey on wild animals like deer and elk, not livestock, but the pack became used to killing cows and calves, the department said.<\/p>\n \u201cThese wolves had become habituated to preying on cattle, a feeding pattern that persisted and was being taught to their offspring which would leave to form their own packs and could teach them the same cattle-preying behavior,\u201d the department said at the time.<\/p>\n But following weeks of searching for the remaining two wolves, officials have \u201creduced efforts to capture\u201d them, Katie Talbot, CDFW Deputy Director of Public Affairs, said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cDespite best efforts from CDFW\u2019s expert wolf biologists and law enforcement officers, we have not been able to find or get close enough to these young wolves to safely capture them,\u201d Talbot said. <\/p>\n \u201cWe remain hopeful our continued remote monitoring will allow for sightings that will lead to safe capture of these juveniles,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Talbot said that CDFW crews will be working this week on capturing wolves and collaring them throughout the state, including in the Sierra Valley. <\/p>\n