When a gray wolf comes into view on Jack Lavers’ Kern County, Calif., ranch, the veteran cattleman doesn’t need binoculars to know what he’s seeing.
“It is a different experience to witness one firsthand up close,” Lavers says. “To be honest, it gives you the chills. They don’t move like a normal dog or a coyote, and they’re so much larger. It is a little bit intimidating.”
For Lavers, such encounters confirm what other California ranchers have warned: wolves are no longer confined to the northern reaches of the state, and their growing presence is bringing mounting pressure on cattle operations. Now, new research from the University of California, Davis, provides hard data to support those concerns.
Cattle Outpace Deer as Wolf Prey
In an ongoing analysis of wolf scat collected across California, UC Davis researchers found cattle DNA in 72% of samples, indicating cattle have become a primary food source for wolves. By comparison, mule deer — the wolves’ primary natural prey in California — appeared in just 45% of samples, while small mammals appeared in 51%…