Is California wild enough for wolves?

Photo: OR-25

On the 7th of January 2016, news that another wolf has been sighted in California became public. This wolf may or may not stay in California but at the time of this writing, there is at least 1 pack(the Shasta pack).  Looking through comments online and reading various newspaper articles, I've spotted a recurring trend. People were saying that California isn't wild enough for wolves. That there are humans everywhere, lots of fragmented habitats and that there aren't enough wild places.  That in my opinion isn't true.

First things first, wolves are incredibly adaptable animals. They can found from the frozen tundras to rural areas in Italy and Portugal. So the idea that an area isn't wild enough for wolves isn't true. So long as there are food sources and not a lot of conflict, wolves can thrive in a variety of environments.  That doesn't mean however that it will go well with the locals.

The problem that wolves and humans often face is livestock depredation. In areas where a lot of land and prey is available to them, wolves tend to just prey on wild animals and not cause issues to humans(apart from hunters in certain areas which claim that wolves kill off all the game animals). However in areas where wolves live on the fringes of human habitats, conflicts over livestock tend to occur. When prey animals tend to be less available, wolves will often attack cows and sheep. In some cases, even if prey animals are widely available wolves will do that anyway, Once a pack has attacked livestock, it is likely they will repeat it. This is due to the biology of the animal. Livestock requires less energy to hunt than game animals and are often fatter so wolves will prefer them once they realise that. Hence ranchers and government organisations tend to try and remove the "problematic" wolves either by killing them or capture them and send them to zoos. This is often the main source of conflict between humans and wolves and what will most likely happen in areas of California.

While California is a state that is vastly populated, there are plenty of wild areas that will be suitable for wolves. Habitat fragmentation isn't a major concern for an animal such as wolves as they tend to traverse large areas to find new territories. It may become an issue due to prey availability so we may see more wolf depredation as time goes by but it may be prevented using non-lethal methods. California can most probably sustain a large population of wolves but it may not be interconnected. Whether humans will allow for that coexistence to occur is a different thing all together. What's for sure is that wolves returning to the West Coast posses interesting challenges for the locals.