SAN FRANCISCO— The California Department of Fish and Wildlife reported late Monday that it has named two new wolf packs that were confirmed in the state last summer.

The newly named wolf families are the Beyem Seyo pack in Plumas County and the Harvey pack in Lassen County. Another of 2023’s newly discovered packs, the Yowlumni pack, ranges in Tulare County and was named in December.

“These awe-inspiring animals continue to show us that California’s wild landscapes are great habitat for wolves and that they’ll find their way here,” said Amaroq Weiss, a senior wolf advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Wolves belong in our state, and we should do everything we can to ensure they thrive.”

The department’s quarterly report covered known wolf information from August through October 2023. It reported that the state has five wolf packs plus several groups of wolves, including new individuals and groups in four northeastern California counties.

The new report noted the continued existence of the Lassen pack in Lassen County, the Whaleback pack in Siskiyou County and a group of two or three wolves in Tehama County. Another group of three wolves was documented ranging in Sierra and Nevada counties, and individual wolves have been sighted in Modoc County. A previously known wolf family in Plumas County, the Beckwourth pack, is thought to no longer exist.

Based on the department’s count, California is currently home to around 45 wolves including adults, yearlings and pups of the year.

The Beyem Seyo pack has at least two adults and six pups; the Harvey pack has at least two adults and one pup; the Lassen pack has a minimum two adults, five yearlings, and three pups; the Whaleback pack is composed of at least two adults, one yearling, and eight pups; the Yowlumni pack consists of two adults and six pups; and the two unnamed groups of wolves include a group of two to three wolves in Tehama County and a group of three wolves in Sierra and Nevada counties.

“I feel so fortunate to bear witness to the return of these top-level carnivores to California,” said Weiss. “Not only are wolves essential to healthy, wild nature, they also have for thousands of years been integral to the human spirit and imagination and a symbol of our connection to the wild.”

Background

The first wolf in nearly a century to make California part of his range was OR-7, a radio-collared wolf from Oregon that entered California in late 2011. OR-7 traveled across seven northeastern counties in California before returning to southwestern Oregon, where he found a mate and settled down, forming the Rogue pack.

Several of OR-7’s offspring have since come to California and established packs. Those include the original breeding male of the Lassen pack and the breeding female of the Yowlumni pack residing in Tulare County. The Shasta pack, California’s first confirmed wolf pack in nearly 100 years, was discovered in 2015 but disappeared a few months later.

The gray wolf (Canis lupus) is native to California but was driven to extinction in the state by the mid-1920s. After OR-7 left Oregon for California, the Center and allies successfully petitioned the state to fully protect wolves under California’s endangered species act. Wolves are also federally protected in California under the federal Endangered Species Act. It is illegal to intentionally kill any wolves in the state.