California wolves are eating much more cattle than wild prey, study finds
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Set us as preferred The return of the wolf in California has been met with joy by conservationists, who delight in the improbable population rebound, and with fury by ranchers who bemoan the toll on their cattle.Now, a new study on the diet of gray wolves suggests that the population regrowth is a result of the animals feasting on cattle, as their natural prey sources remain comparatively scarce.
Researchers at UC Davis found cattle DNA in 72% of wolf scat samples collected in the summers of 2022 and 2023.By comparison mule deer, the primary natural prey for wolves in California, appeared in 45% of samples, and small mammals appeared in 51% of samples.
California California wolves are on the comeback.And no matter how hard wildlife officials try to direct them toward their natural prey, the wolves seem to find the domesticated cattle wandering through open pastures a lot more appealing.“Whether it’s through scavenging or whether it’s through depredation, [cattle are] a huge component of the wolves’ diet,” said Tina Saitone, lead study author and professor in the UC Davis Agricultural and Resource Economics Department.
“Their conservation success is because of livestock producers in the state.”The study reaffirms fears that many wolves are becoming dependent on cattle as a primary food source as it is easier to feed on slow-moving, fatty cows than stalk the state’s dwindling deer population.Some irregular food items such as chicken and pig were also detected in the samples, suggesting that wolves are also scavenging from human waste disposal sites.The results of the study, though limited to the Lassen and Harvey wolf packs during a several-month period, underscore the challenges of people coexisting with wolves.
There were 267 investigations opened by California wildlife officials into wolf-livestock predati...