California Department of Fish and Wildlife Issues 2025 Gray Wolf Annual Report
Published Friday, May 22, 2026
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife recently released its 2025 Annual Report on gray wolf conservation and management, documenting continued growth in California’s gray wolf population. According to the report, the state’s minimum known wolf population increased approximately 10% in 2025 to at least 55 wolves statewide.
CDFW recognized nine active wolf packs at the end of last year, including four newly identified packs: Ashpan, Grizzly, Ishi and Tunnison. The report noted that the Ishi pack was later determined to be part of the existing Ice Cave pack and subsequently declared inactive. While six packs produced litters totaling at least 32 pups, the number of confirmed breeding pairs declined to three following the removal of the Beyem Seyo pack. The report also documented increased wolf-livestock interactions statewide. In 2025, CDFW conducted 267 depredation investigations, resulting in 198 confirmed or probable livestock losses attributed to wolves. Through the state’s Wolf-Livestock Compensation Program, more than $354,000 was distributed to impacted livestock producers.
CDFW also highlighted California’s transition into “Phase 2” of wolf recovery efforts, which allows for increased information sharing and consideration of injurious harassment measures intended to help protect livestock from wolf depredation.
Staff contact: Steven Fenaroli, sfenaroli@cfbf.com.
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