Wolf Fatality After Attempt To Collar It Following CDFW Capture

Here’s more info from the Sacramento Bee:

A female gray wolf died after it was captured by California wildlife officers to be fitted with a tracking collar, the second unplanned death of one of the protected animals during an interaction with state officials in six months.

The death of the wolf, a breeding member of the Harvey pack from Lassen and Shasta Counties, comes amid growing interest in the state’s stewardship of the predator canines, whose return from local extinction has been fraught with concern about public safety along with worries from environmentalists that aggressive interventions could harm the species’ return.

“California’s wolves are still recovering and the state must tread carefully to ensure these fragile packs don’t backslide,” said Amaroq Weiss, a senior wolf advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s just so heartbreaking that the Harvey pack was robbed of its matriarch, especially in the middle of wolf breeding season.”

As the article states, it’s the second time a wolf died in an unplanned incident after another animal was shot on accident last fall when CDFW killed a handful of other aggressive wolves that were accused of fatally attacking livestock.