Ranchers have become concerned about the growing establishment of predators in California, following a photographic proof of a pack of gray wolves in Northern California. They are worried that the state doesn't have a plan, which could make it difficult for ranchers to protect their livestock against wolf predation.

Last week, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife released a number of photographs showing a pack of wolves, two gray-wolf adults and five pups, in Siskiyou County. The department called it the 'Shasta Pack'. Since late 2011, when a lone wolf, OR7, got into California, it is the first confirmed sighting of gray wolves in the state. This sighting is also the state's first wolf pack since the species' extirpation over 90 years ago.

The declaration of wolf sighting has come over a year after the California Fish and Game Commission voted to bring the gray wolf under the state Endangered Species Act. Under the act, the gray wolf would have been made illegal to hunt, pursue, catch, capture, kill or attempt any of those actions in California. The federal Endangered Species Act also protects the gray wolf.

Ranchers mentioned that they were let down in the state ESA listing. They are still worried about the impact wolves are going to have on their livestock if they become established in the state.

Due to the arrival of the wolves, DFW has delayed release of a draft management plan, from which the ranchers have hopes that it would outline tools that they could use for the protection of their livestock.