Wolves have been “very busy” in the first few weeks of 2026, Supervisor Dwight Ceresola told the Plumas County Board of Supervisors Jan. 6. Three months after California Department of Fish and Wildlife authorities killed four gray wolves, essentially eliminating the Beyem Seyo pack, Ceresola and other ranchers are reporting that attacks on livestock have shifted slightly north from Sierra Valley to Lassen County.
At least two livestock deaths in the first six days of 2026 have been blamed on the Harvey pack, which is active along Lassen’s western border with Shasta County. Confirmed by state officials in 2023, the Harvey pack produced eight pups in 2024 and seven in 2025.
Wyatt Hanson’s ranch is less than 10 miles from downtown Susanville. The new year began with attacks there on a 600-pound weaned calf and a horse. Hanson attributed both to wolves. The calf was killed but left largely uneaten, Hanson told Lassen News. The horse, Smokey, was a 20-year-old family favorite that Hanson rode as a child and his own children frequently rode, he said. Smokey’s injuries were so severe the family made the decision to euthanize him.
These wolf attacks have heightened concern from local law enforcement officials. Lassen County Sheriff John McGarva asked Wade Crowfoot, secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency, to allow him to intervene to “protect those in my county from a problem wolf pack that has clearly become an increasing threat.”
“These attacks were purely for the act of killing.”
John McGarva, Lassen County sheriff
An investigation on Hanson’s ranch offered “no evidence… to show this was a kill for food or sustaining life by the wolves,” McGarva wrote. “These attacks were purely for the act of killing,” he said in his letter to Crowfoot. He asked for “the means to intervene and protect those in my county from a problem wolf pack that has clearly become an increasing threat.”
McGarva’s request follows similar appeals from officials in Lassen, Modoc, Plumas and Sierra counties last fall, when state officials documented 70 livestock losses attributed to three individual wolves. State officials blamed all kills on the Beyam Seyo pack. The pack represented 63% of all wolf-caused livestock losses in 2025, as of September 10, they said.
In October CDFW targeted a breeding male and female pair and a solo adult female in the Beyam Seyo pack for “lethal removal.” During the operation a juvenile male was killed accidentally, the agency reported.
With the recent increase in wolf attacks, Ceresola said he and other local officials are getting “negative help” from CDFW. Because wolves are protected as an endangered species, local law enforcement officials are legally limited in the action they can take.
Wolf advocates respond
Women for Wolves, based in El Dorado County, denounced the characterization of the recent livestock killings as a public safety threat. Suggesting lethal intervention as the inevitable solution distorts the narrative and ignores the science, said Anjali Ranadive, the organization’s founder.
“We cannot out-predator our way out of human–wildlife conflict.”
Anjali Ranadive, Women for Wolves founder
Recent media portrayal of the Harvey wolf pack in Lassen County risks “pushing California toward outdated wildlife management approaches that have repeatedly failed across the American West. We cannot out-predator our way out of human–wildlife conflict,” Ranadive said in a press release.
She suggested the use of lights, sound devices and dispatching riders to deter wolves from livestock. Electric fencing and strategic use of flagging can reduce depredation by 60-90% when installed and maintained correctly, Ranadive said.
Other wolf advocacy organizations have similarly called for non-lethal measures to discourage wolves from ranches. “Many of these conflicts could have been avoided if ranchers had started proactively implementing conflict-deterrent measures three or four years ago,” said Amaroq Weiss, senior wolf advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity.
Livestock losses continue
Ranchers in northeastern California have been dealing with wolves for nearly a decade, when the first packs in California since at least the 1920s began to form. Hanson said that he and scores of other ranchers have used the recommended non-lethal deterrents to no avail.
California wildlife officials planned to use helicopters to capture wolves and other species this month to better understand their distribution and use of the natural habitat. That could include placing electronic collars on wolves to provide detailed information about their movements, habitat preferences and locations. Any captured wolves will be returned to the nearest suitable public land habitat after processing, state officials said.
