Nearly four years ago in the forests of California’s rugged northeast corner, two black and brown wolves had a litter of five pups in the shadow of Mount Shasta.
They became known as the Shasta Pack – the first known gray wolves to have offspring on California soil in nearly a century. The pups, shown frolicking in camera footage released by state wildlife officials, became a statewide sensation, even as local ranchers bristled at the new threat to their cattle.
Three and a half years later, the Shasta Pack has vanished from Siskiyou County. All but one of the wolves disappeared within a few weeks of a standoff between ranchers and the pack and after the wolves were spotted feeding on a calf carcass. Just one pup is known to have survived; biologists say DNA tests show it left the state.
Source: Did someone kill or poach a California wolf pack? | The Sacramento Bee
Comments
No one will step forward and admit that the wolves were killed by them. Sad day. The wolf has been hunting all across this country for centuries and now are slowly being eliminated by the ranchers who have moved into the wolve’s domain. This murdering of the wolf, has gone to far, for the simple fact of the wolf being the hunter it has evolved in to over years and years and years of existence before the ranchers moved into the area!
Wolves in the wild will feed on anything available to them when the need arises. Ranchers taking action against the wolves is exactly the wrong reaction from them. We cannot have this dissention between the government and the ranchers, an agreement must be forthcoming for the wolves are the victims in this case.If wolves are going to be re-introduced and they prey upon ranchers cattle, then compensation must be paid to the ranchers for their losses.
There are non-lethal ways to protect cattle from predation. Electric fences; regular 6-8′ wire mesh-enclosed fences; guard llamas and dogs; etc. We have lots of mountain lions, bears and coyotes here in California. Why does everyone pick on the wolves? They are hardly the only predators. Maybe we should all just quit eating beef so ranchers won’t be such murderous jerks?