Two new wolf packs spotted in Northern California reveal a continued resurgence of the species, a century after they disappeared from the Golden State.
Wildlife officials confirmed the existence of the gray wolves, native to California, earlier this month, SF Gate reported.
One pack, yet to be named, consists of four wolves, two of which are pups, that roams the area south of Lassen Volcanic National Park, about 75 miles southeast of the city of Redding.
“This finding is noteworthy,” California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s wolf biologist Axel Hunnicutt told the outlet.
“In that it confirms, along with the other recently confirmed pack, that California’s wolf population continues to expand in both size and extent within the state.”
The second newly sighted pack, dubbed the Diamond pack, containing two adult wolves, was seen about 50 miles north of Lake Tahoe.
Since last year, biologists watched the pair to see if they met the criteria to be declared a pack — one of which is the sighting of two or more wolves four or more times in six months in the same area, Hunnicutt explained.
There are currently nine packs of grey wolves in California confirmed by wildlife officials, including three new ones this year alone.
They were abundant from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s, however, due to hunting and habitat encroachment by humans, they were considered extinct in the state by the 1920s.
They’ve been deemed federally and state endangered. Officials were shocked when a wolf abandoned its pack and walked over the Oregon-California border in 2011, becoming the first to settle there in decades.
In May, a bill was passed to remove wolves from the endangered species list across most of the country, although it met with resistance from the Biden administration.
Although wolves are known to avoid hurting humans, their reemergence can cause problems for locals, such as ranchers, whose calves have been killed by the wolves, which can weigh up to 150 pounds.
The animals are protected under the Endangered Species Act, so it is illegal to kill or harm them in most circumstances.
“I have mixed emotions about it,” Hunnicutt said in September.
“The growing population brings significant challenges in regards to the people and agricultural landscape that’s currently there.”