ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Gray wolves disappeared from California nearly a century ago. In the 2010s, they started to come back, and now their numbers have grown so much that ranchers in Northern California are complaining that their livestock is threatened. Four counties declared a state of emergency due to the wolves' presence this spring. From member station CapRadio, environment reporter Manola Secaira has this story about the emerging tensions over living with wolves.
MANOLA SECAIRA, BYLINE: Chad Smith's ranch, Bar One Cattle Company, is usually a peaceful place. It's located in a rural part of Northern California. But like many ranchers in the area, he's seeing wolves on his property. In a recent incident, his cow survived an attack.
CHAD SMITH: Wolves, two weeks ago, got ahold of her, ripped her whole hind out.
SECAIRA: He says even when a wolf doesn't kill a cow, it can have longer-term impacts on his income.
SMITH: I don't think we'll be able to breed her now. I mean, we're losing 10 years of calves because of - you know, she was chewed up as a young heifer.
SECAIRA: Right now, ranchers are only allowed to scare off wolves using tactics that don't injure them, like shining bright lights or making loud noises. Many in the region say that isn't working. According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, wolves killed 58 livestock last year. And while the state compensates ranchers for proven losses, they don't compensate for indirect impacts like stress. Axel Hunnicutt is the gray wolf coordinator for the state and says stress can lead to weight loss and fewer calves. That creates uncertainty for ranchers.
AXEL HUNNICUTT: You know, you can imagine someone wondering, like, shoot, what is my future?
SECAIRA: The Department of Fish and Wildlife is now able to consider more aggressive tactics as part of the conservation plan they launched for the endangered wolf in 2016.
HUNNICUTT: So this is things like rubber bullets, beanbags, various kinds of sprays, like bear spray and whatnot, on them, as well as potentially pursuing with vehicles to push them away from an area of conflict.
SECAIRA: Amaroq Weiss is the Center for Biological Diversity's senior wolf advocate. She says she understands the need to move to more aggressive tactics but only if ranchers have already tried the non-harmful ones.
AMAROQ WEISS: I think what's most important is to, first of all, not have that be your first reaction.
SECAIRA: Some change is on the way. In early June, the Department of Fish and Wildlife launched a pilot program to support ranchers. The agency is helping them create plans to protect their livestock with nonlethal methods. They're also providing a team on the ground that will be able to use more aggressive tools to handle wolves, although those options are still unavailable to ranchers.
For NPR News, I'm Manola Secaira in Sierra County.
(SOUNDBITE OF NOAH CYRUS AND SHABOOZEY SONG, "MY FAULT") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.