CDFW Seeks Public Input in Developing Statewide Deer Conservation and Management Plan September 5, 2025 California Department of Fish and Wildlife
... The public is invited to participate in a virtual workshop to help guide the development of the management plan. The two-hour session will provide an opportunity for members of the public to learn about the development process as well as the background and outline of the plan ... Date: Tuesday, Sept.16, 2025. Time: 6 to 8 p.m. Virtual Platform: Zoom. (https://wildlife-ca-gov.zoom.us/j/88628762826)
Lost and fawned: Abandoned deer rescued by Lodi Animal Services August 14, 2025 California, Lodi News-Sentinel
... struggling to stand up ... looked very thin ... covered in foxtails ... no other deer ... Kranich transported the fawn to the Lodi Animal Services shelter and was able to get it to drink goat milk ... was able to transport the animal to the Pleasanton Deer Rescue in El Dorado County...
CDFW’s new Wildlife Connectivity Barriers web page August 8, 2025 California Department of Fish and Wildlife
... An interactive map showcasing over 200 high-priority barrier segments across 3,000 miles of roadways and infrastructure. A searchable database with detailed information on each barrier, including species affected (e.g., deer, mountain lions, amphibians, reptiles) and prioritization data. Online tools to export data, zoom in on relevant areas of interest, and print focal areas of concern. Resources for planners and partners to inform conservation, restoration, and infrastructure planning...
Estimating wildlife populations and their dynamics using multiple data sources and a hierarchical integrated model: The case of California's black bears July 30, 2025 British Ecological Society Journals
... We applied our state-space model to estimate the population size and dynamics of black bears within the hunted areas of California over the last decade and used the integrated camera trapping-based model to extrapolate to the non-hunted areas of California to estimate a total statewide average population size over the last 5 years of 59,851 individuals (90% credible interval: 49,412–70,611). We found generally stable population estimates in the hunted regions of the state, though we found evidence of increases in the Cascades region...
Albino deer fawn rescued in Northern California dies from injuries July 7, 2025 CBS News on MSN
... Rescuers said the fawn was found stuck in a fence, leaving the animal with serious injuries ...
Ten Years of Gray Wolf Conservation and Management in California July, 2025 California Department of Fish and Wildlife
... Wolves were extirpated in California by 1924 and naturally returned to the state in 2011. California’s
first contemporary pack was established in 2015, and by the end of 2024 the state’s population had
grown to seven packs with at least 50 wolves...
Caltrans building animal crossings over Interstate 80 in Sierra to increase safety June 25, 2025 California, CBS News
... Deer populations are on the decline in California and 10% of deer deaths are from traffic collisions. A lot of that has to do with a lack of fencing...
California Native Wildlife Rehabilitation 679 Regulations Manual June 2025 CDFW
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (department) oversees the permitting of wildlife rehabilitators in the State through its Native Wildlife Rehabilitation Program (hereafter program). The purpose of wildlife rehabilitation is to restore a native wild animal to a condition of good health for its release to suitable habitat in the wild, or to relieve its suffering through humane euthanasia as appropriate ..,
Spatial Ecology and Predator-Prey Interactions of Mountain Lions in California's San Francisco North Bay June, 2025 Jacob A. Harvey. University of Nebraska-Lincoln
... Our work highlights the significant overlap between mountain lions and people in the North Bay as mountain lions killed and consumed their primary prey surprisingly close to buildings (mean = 373 m)...
Catalina Island: Conservation via Eradication. What's the Pay, What's the Rotation? June 1, 2025 California, Field Ethos
... 3,500 of the 4,000 Catalina residents had signed a petition to not eradicate the deer population. Many residents live off deer they kill and support hunting on the island as a way to maintain the population. The conservancy’s goal is to restore the island to “pre-European man,” meaning anything not native needs to go...
CDFW Releases New Wolf Location Mapping System May 15, 2025 California Department of Fish and Wildlife
... The Wolf Location Automated Mapping System, available to the public on CDFW’s website, shows the approximate location of GPS collared wolves across the state. The goal of the map is to better enable livestock producers to understand the movement of collared wolves near their properties and to assist them in mitigating wolf-livestock conflicts...
California wolf population growth leads to increased cattle predation May 15, 2025 Farm Progress
... DNA analysis on 101 wolf scat samples,” Saitone told Farm Press in an email. “Seventy-two percent of the samples collected contained bovine DNA, indicating that cattle are a significant contributor of calories to wolf diet.” ... a state analysis concluded that California’s elk and deer populations can support 497 wolves north of Interstate 80 ..,
Deer extinct in wild since 1939 welcomed at California zoo. See ‘wobbly newborn’ May 13, 2025 The Sacramento Bee on MSN
... The Pere David’s deer is the first in the last 22 years to be born at the San Diego Safari Park ... Père David’s deer have been extinct in the wild since 1939...
Sierra County sheriff calls on department of wildlife after continued grey wolf attacks April 29, 2025 California, KRNV on MSN
...six calves were attacked and wounded ... at least 18 confirmed wolf attacks have occurred in Sierra Valley within the past 28 days... a suspected wolf attack on a deer in a resident’s side yard ..,
Wildlife Returns to Site of Devastating Southern California Wildfire April 25, 2025 Yale e360
... Four months after the disastrous Eaton Fire tore through Altadena, California, wildlife is making a comeback. Trail cameras have captured mountain lions, coyotes, deer ... Researchers at UCLA have been tracking the recovery and posting videos of wildlife on Instagram...
Siskiyou County Sheriff sends letter to California legislature, CDFW to address the potential danger posed by the expanding wolf population April 16, 2025 California, Action News Now
... The decline in natural prey like deer and elk is pushing wolves closer to human activity, raising the risk of encounters. This trend is unsettling for many local residents. Current California laws leave those who act in self-defense against wolves in a legal gray area...
World's Largest Wildlife Crossing Begins Soil Layering March 31, 2025 California, KFI AM 640 on MSN
... designed to aid animals like mountain lions, deer, and bobcats in safely traversing the 101 Freeway ... The crossing aims to reconnect wildlife habitats that have been fragmented by urban development ...
The giants that eat acorns March 3, 2025 California, Tehachapi News
... Tule Elk ... native to California, and to the Tehachapi Mountains, and prior to European arrival in California may have numbered more than 500,000 ... were thought to be extinct by 1873 ... in 1874, a game warden named A.C. Tibbett discovered a single bull elk and a single cow ... now estimated to be about 6,000 animals ..,
California Bill Prioritizes Wildlife Connectivity in Regional Planning February 20, 2025 Sierra Sun Times
... Assembly Bill 902 ... The Connected Communities Act would require agencies tasked with regional transportation planning to consider how development and road projects would affect wildlife movement and design projects to minimize the creation of new barriers... Transportation projects and other development can cut into wildlife habitat, isolating deer, pumas, newts and other animals...
Return of 14,000 Acres to Tule River Tribe Aims to Conserve Diverse Habitat January 12, 2025 California, GV Wire
... Project reconnects ancestral lands, expands wildlife corridors, and supports reintroduction of beaver and Tule elk...
Yes, you can rent a reindeer in California December 10, 2024 ABC10
... just outside the arid and windy town of Mojave, you’ll find a small herd of reindeer at Windswept Ranch... one of the only places in California where you can rent a reindeer for Christmas-themed events all over California... “They have a click when they walk... Remember, 'up on the housetop click, click, click'? ...
As California's wolf population claws its way back, some ranchers are nervous December 6, 2024 USA Today on MSN
... This year the state is home to nine packs containing an estimated 70 wolves, up from 44 last year. Most live in the northeastern part of the state, though there is one pack about 200 miles north of Los Angeles..,
Gray wolves spotted in California National Park for first time in 100 years November 25, 2024 California, MSN
... A pack of gray wolves has been sighted within the boundaries of California's Lassen Volcanic National Park for the first time in nearly 100 years of federal protection. In a Facebook post issued by California Wolf Watch, "wolf coordinator" Axel Hunnicutt of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife confirmed the pack is roaming the region ..,
The Coyotes Arrived. Now, They’re Changing Angel Island. November 19, 2024 California, Bay Nature
... In 1915, the US Army introduced about 20 Columbian black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus) to Angel Island for hunting, but stopped in the 1950s when the island became a state park. Over the next 50 years, the deer population exploded to as high as 300... state parks went with a culling program ... at some point, the culling stopped and the numbers of deer on the island apparently stabilized… Shortly after, the coyotes showed up... Since the litter’s arrival, Parks staff have not witnessed any deer grow into adulthood ... Raccoons, too, are no longer a common sight...
CDFW to Conduct Helicopter Surveys in Northeastern California to Monitor Elk Populations, Inform Hunting Regulations November 1, 2024 California Department of Fish and Wildlife
... CDFW utilizes a variety of survey methods to regularly monitor big game population size, distribution, demographics and trends over time. In open habitats, aerial surveys provide an efficient and rapid method of data collection, affording CDFW biologists the ability to cover larger areas in relatively shorter time periods...
Wildlife officials searching for deer that has bone lodged in its mouth in Hollywood Hills October 14, 2024 California, CBS Los Angeles on MSN.com
... several photos of the animal with a bone lodged in its mouth surfaced on social media... because of the way that the bone is stuck, the animal is unable to eat, which could lead to it's eventually starvation...
California wolves' stunning return: a new pack and furious ranchers October 13, 2024 San Francisco Chronicle
... In the past year ... the population has soared, with at least eight packs ... now established as far south as Tulare County ... Part of the reason for the preponderance of cows in the diet of wolves is believed to be a lack of preferred prey. California’s elk numbers are low, while deer have been in decline for decades...
Bystander attempted to free large buck in Bayside neighborhood October 8, 2024 California, KRCR
... When the California Department of Fish and Wildlife arrived at the scene, they darted the deer to reduce the stress of the buck, the antlers were sawed off, an ear tag was placed ... "They cut the horns off on both sides because they did not want anybody to shoot the buck ... drug that they used ...
The deer factory October 7, 2024 California, Western Outdoor News
... “Deer factory” is a bygone term for the northern remote mountains of California ... “We remember the old days when we took our families to the winter ranges to see the ‘Big Old Bucks’ who made it through the season.” Today, few bucks are seen. The shear greater numbers of deer we would see have vanished largely in our public lands...
Novel evidence that elk were historically native to the Sierra Nevada, and recent range expansions into the region - PloS one, 2024
... Taken in total, a variety of data sources suggest elk inhabited portions of the Sierra Nevada and the adjacent northwest Great Basin from the Late Holocene through historical times. Positive records were not numerous, suggesting that historically elk were not abundant, and nearly extirpated during the California Fur Rush of the early nineteenth century...
The impacts of fire on wildlife September 13, 2024 California, Lake County Record-Bee on MSN
... Cow Mountain wildfire that occurred in 1983 ... The Department of Fish and Game sent teams into the area a week after the fire and they were surprised to find very few bones or carcasses of deer or other large wildlife such as bears or mountain lions. Within a month after the fire was extinguished, the deer returned in large numbers...
California's Gray Wolf Population Thrives, But Livestock Attacks Surge September 8, 2024 KQED
... its known population growing to over 50 wolves this year, up from zero for the better part of a century. However, a new report shows that attacks by wolf packs on livestock at ranches and farms have increased.
The latest numbers from California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife ...
Unraveling the impact of dog-friendly spaces on urban–wildland pumas and other wildlife - Wildlife Biology, 2024. California
... Wildlife responses included avoidance (bobcat, puma) or spatial overlap (mule deer) for areas with more dogs, and no effect (coyote). Mule deer may benefit from a “human shield” provided by people with dogs, while pumas and bobcats appeared more sensitive, and coyotes more adaptable. Dog policies influenced puma and mule deer temporal activity, with increased nocturnal activity in dog-friendly PAs ...
California Fights Fire With Fire August 29, 2024 The American Prospect
... For thousands of years, indigenous people have set “cultural burns” to improve habitats for creatures like deer, turkey, and quail; eliminate pests, diseases, and invasive species; and help germinate fire-dependent plants like the iconic giant sequoia ... stigmas against fire “really problematic, especially in a place like California, where a lot of our ecosystems evolved with fire every five years.” She adds, “We need to be burning on some level of frequency ...
Sound, light barriers go up on 101 freeway wildlife crossing. Here's why August 22, 2024 California, Ventura County Star
...for mountain lions, mule deer and other wildlife in Ventura and Los Angeles counties ... "We really want to make it as quiet and as dark at night as possible," Riley said. “It shouldn't seem like you're going over a big, busy freeway. It should just feel like you're walking through the chaparral and coastal sage scrub.”...
As Archery Deer Seasons Open Throughout California, Mandatory Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) Testing Now Required in Four Hunt Zones August 17, 2024 CDFW News
... four hunt zones – D7, X9a, X9b and X9c – where successful hunters are required to test their animals for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) within 10 days of take.
In response to the recent CWD detections in Madera and Inyo counties, the California Fish and Game Commission recently adopted regulations requiring mandatory CWD testing in the affected hunt zones to better understand the extent of the current outbreak, to inform decision-makers and to help protect California’s deer and elk herds by limiting the spread of CWD...
Video Below: California Deer Migration Data access tool. August 8, 2024
