Authorities euthanize 4 wolves over cattle kills

The predators were responsible for 70 livestock losses over several months.

- BY CLARA HARTER

MALIA BYRTUS California Wolf Project / UC Berkeley A NEWLY collared wolf from the Beyem Seyo pack is released near where she was captured in January.

Conservationists were thrilled when the gray wolf returned to California after the apex predators were hunted to near extinction a century ago.

But it turns out the Golden State’s regrowing wolf packs are not merely content to feed on their traditional prey of elk and deer. Some also have a voracious appetite for cattle.

In response to an “unprecedented” surge in cattle kills across the Sierra Valley - which has been widely bemoaned by the region's ranchers — officials with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife recently euthanized four gray wolves from the Beyem Seyo pack.

From March 28 to Sept. 10, these four wolves were responsible for 70 total livestock losses, representing 63% of wolf-caused livestock losses reported across the state during that time period, according to the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“Wolves are one of the state’s most iconic species and coexistence is our collective future, but that comes with tremendous responsibility and sometimes hard decisions,” department Director Charlton Bonham said in a statement.