{"id":165717,"date":"2026-02-05T21:29:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T21:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/165717\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T21:29:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T21:29:09","slug":"cdfw-news-cdfw-captures-and-collars-5-gray-wolves-in-northern-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/165717\/","title":{"rendered":"CDFW News | CDFW Captures and Collars 5 Gray Wolves in Northern California"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Media Note: Download Capture Photos and Video<\/a><\/p>\n

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) recently completed helicopter capture operations resulting in the satellite collaring of five gray wolves in northern California.<\/p>\n

Operations occurred\u00a0between Jan. 12 and 20\u00a0in\u00a0Lassen, Modoc, Shasta, Siskiyou and Tehama counties. The wolves collared were\u00a0associated with the Whaleback and Harvey packs.<\/p>\n

Immediately after capture, each wolf was flown to a\u00a0nearby\u00a0field\u00a0processing site and\u00a0fitted with a satellite\/VHF collar.\u00a0CDFW veterinary and biological staff also collected standard biological data,\u00a0including body measurements,\u00a0DNA\u00a0and blood samples. These\u00a0data allow CDFW to\u00a0monitor\u00a0wolf health, screen for disease and assess genetic relatedness among individuals and packs.\u00a0After collaring, each wolf was\u00a0released on public land as close as practical to\u00a0its\u00a0capture location.<\/p>\n

The five wolves collared during the operation included:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\tAn adult male captured in northern Lassen\u00a0County that was born into the Whaleback pack. Following release, collar data showed that the wolf returned to its natal Whaleback pack.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\tA previously collared,\u00a0dispersing adult male from the Harvey pack that was captured in Modoc County. Its collar was replaced.<\/p>\n

\tA Harvey\u00a0pack female born in 2024 and captured in northwestern Lassen County.<\/p>\n

\tTwo Harvey pack females born in 2025 and captured in northwestern Shasta County.<\/p>\n

Wildlife capture operations inherently carry risk to\u00a0captured\u00a0animals. During this\u00a0operation\u00a0a sixth wolf \u2013 an adult female from the Harvey pack \u2013 died after capture. Factors contributing to\u00a0its death\u00a0are being investigated.<\/p>\n

Satellite collaring is a critical management and research tool that helps CDFW monitor wolf populations, better understand\u202flandscape use and movement\u00a0patterns\u00a0and reduce the risk of wolf\u2013livestock conflict. The collars do not provide real-time data; instead, they collect multiple location points per day\u00a0and generally\u00a0transmit\u00a0those stored locations\u00a0to CDFW once a day. Each collar has an expected battery life of\u00a0approximately two\u00a0to three years and is programmed to drop off the animal before the battery is depleted.<\/p>\n

Over the past decade, CDFW has successfully captured 38 gray wolves statewide\u00a0for the purpose of collaring. Presently, there are 13 wolves carrying active collars.\u00a0Within days of capture, the\u00a0approximate\u00a0locations\u00a0of\u00a0the newly collared wolves\u00a0began showing on\u00a0CDFW\u2019s Wolf Tracker mapping tool<\/a>.\u00a0More information about California\u2019s wolves can be found at\u202fCDFW\u2019s gray wolf web pages<\/a>.<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n

Media Contacts:\u202f\u00a0
Axel Hunnicutt<\/a>,\u00a0CDFW State Gray Wolf Coordinator, (916)\u00a0628-3543\u00a0
Peter Tira<\/a>, CDFW Communications, (916)\u00a0215-3848\u00a0<\/p>\n

Photo: A yearling female gray wolf from the Whaleback pack is released after capture and collaring in Siskiyou County. Photo courtesy of Malia Brytus\/California Wolf Project<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Media Note: Download Capture Photos and Video The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) recently completed helicopter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":165718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,17909,62757,6080,79955,70162],"class_list":["post-165717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-gray-wolves","tag-helicopter-captures","tag-research","tag-satellite-collars","tag-wildlife-management"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}