Eight years after a gray wolf wandered over the border from Oregon into California, bringing the species back to the Golden State for the first time since ranchers and farmers wiped out wolves in the 1920s, the state’s only wolf pack is expanding.

At least three new wolf pups were born in mid-April to the Lassen Pack, a group of gray wolves that has been roaming Lassen and Plumas counties in the rural northeast corner of the state, according to officials from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The pups and two adult wolves were videotaped on a trail camera June 18 in a remote, undisclosed area of their range, roughly 100 miles south of the Oregon border.

The three pups bring the total number of gray wolves in California to at least seven, and perhaps as many as 10.

Exact numbers are difficult to come by because the animals roam hundreds of miles into other states, including Oregon and Nevada, and only two wolves in California have been radio-collared.

“This pack has been on the landscape in California since 2016,” said Kent Laudon, a wolf biologist with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. “They had their first litter in 2017. Generally you would expect pups every year, so long as the adults stay healthy. They are acting like regular wolves.”

Wolves have been gradually growing in number across the United States since re-introduction efforts began in 1995 and 1996. Several dozen were brought from Canada by federal biologists at that time and released in Yellowstone National Park and the Frank Church Wilderness in Idaho.

Wolves once roamed widely across the West but were hunted and poisoned by trappers, hunters, farmers and ranchers, often because of fears they would kill calves or sheep or that they would eat deer and elk, reducing the number available to hunt.

In 2011, a wolf that biologists called OR-7 wandered from Oregon into California, starting the new era of wolf recovery in the state.

Environmentalists called the latest news about the pups a positive step forward.

“Wolves are important for ecosystems,” said Amaroq Weiss, a biologist and senior advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity in Petaluma. “They are an important thread in the tapestry of nature.”

“Elk and deer evolved with them,” she added. “Wolves keep them in check, which helps vegetation not get over-eaten. That vegetation provides nesting habitat for migrating birds and building material for beavers, which create ponds for frogs and fish. Wolves are part of what keeps nature healthy and what keeps nature wild.”

After OR-7’s entry into California, state officials added the species for protection in 2014 under the California Endangered Species Act, making it illegal for anyone to poison, shoot or harm a wolf.

The animals, which have been linked to five attacks on calves this year in Lassen, Siskiyou and Plumas counties, are a source of consternation for some rural ranchers and farmers. Unlike many other western states, California does not have a fund to reimburse farmers and ranchers for sheep or calves killed by wolves.

In January, a federal judge in San Diego rejected a lawsuit from the California Farm Bureau Federation and the California Cattlemen’s Association, which argued that California’s decision to list the animals as endangered under state law was arbitrary because there are so few wolves in the state.

“The Farm Bureau is committed to continuing to work with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife to figure out ways to reduce the burdens of raising livestock in areas with wolves — but we do not expect it to be easy,” said Noelle Cremers, a policy advocate with the California Farm Bureau Federation. “We hope the Department of Fish and Wildlife can work with ranchers to help them protect their animals as the pack expands.”

Across the United States, there are roughly 6,000 gray wolves. About 4,000 are in Minnesota, upper Michigan and Wisconsin.

About 1,500 are in the Northern Rockies, mostly Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. In Washington State there are 126 wolves, in Oregon 137 and in California an estimated seven to 10. In the Southwest, the Mexican Gray Wolf numbers about 130 animals. As many as 8,000 more live in Alaska.

Congress removed endangered species protection for the animals in 2011 in the Northern Rockies, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service followed suit in 2012 in Wyoming. In those states, the animals are allowed to be killed.

Earlier this year, the Trump administration announced plans to remove federal endangered species protection for all gray wolves in the lower 48 states. A public comment period by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ended this month. Environmental groups are expected to sue if protections are removed.

California had another wolf pack, the Shasta pack, which mysteriously disappeared three years ago after one wolf was found near a dead calf. It’s unclear whether someone killed the animals or whether they naturally dispersed or died.

Weiss and other environmentalists note that wolves kill far fewer livestock than other predators, including dogs, and that 95 percent of livestock deaths are from other causes, such as disease, death during birth or starvation.

A state study released in 2016 found that the wolf population eventually could spread to most areas of California north of Mendocino County and through much of the Sierra.

One female wolf, known as OR-54, traveled at least 1,116 miles from April to June this year, visiting portions of Butte, Lassen, Nevada, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, and Siskiyou counties. Since first leaving her original pack on January 23, 2018, OR-54, which has a radio collar, has traveled 6,644 miles at an average of 13 miles a day.

State wildlife officials are in the middle of the issue, trying to support compromises, like encouraging farmers and ranchers to use fencing, lights and loud noises to scare wolves away from their herds, which sometimes are on private land and other times are grazing on public land, like national forests, that the ranchers rent.

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What’s causing so many hummingbirds to visit Los Gatos feeder? “It is really sensitive. Wolves are new to folks,” said Laudon. “They haven’t had the benefit to see what their actual risk is. And there is no means for control and no compensation.

“We’re putting a lot of time into figuring out how to work together and maximize communication to get good information out and to work together toward creative solutions to deter conflict to the extent possible,” he added. “That’s the name of the game. What’s good for people ends up being good for wolves.”