Lassen County Asks State For More Clarity On Wolf Population

The Lassen County Times has a report on the county’s board of supervisors sending a letter to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife seeking some clarity about wolves now the Lassen County has seen an uptick in resident wolves over the last four or five years after the state was virtually lupine-free. Here’s more from the Times:

The supervisors also noted the California Department of Fish and Wildlife plan does not provide compensation or methods to protect Californian’s property or consider the wolves’ economic impact on rural areas. …

The letter reads, “We find it impossible to support the commission’s position that the animal is in its natural habitat of California and that it is endangered; which are details that do not seem to be true or scientifically proven. The state has not established how a non-native animal that has dispersed from another state is a ‘native animal species’ to California.

“Please validate your assumptions that this animal’s original and natural habitat is California. We respectfully disagree with the commission’s decision naming this animal as an endangered species under the CSA. The state has not defined and confirmed that a ‘wolf’ is substantially genetically matching to the state’s original native wolf species.”