According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, California wolf packs welcomed a total of at least 22 pups this year.
Amaroq Weiss, a Senior Wolf Advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity says this number is concerning.
"That is still just a really small number of wolves," Weiss said. "We're in the midst of a global extinction crisis right now. We need all the pieces back, and as apex predators wolves play a really important role in keeping wild nature healthy."
Wolves vanished from California nearly a century ago, but returned in 2011 when a radio-collared wolf born in Oregon crossed into California.
His offspring helped establish new packs here, with the first pack confirmed in 2015. Today, the ten packs total to about fifty to seventy wolves.
Weiss says she is hoping that the California Department of Fish and Wildlife will, in the weeks to come, discover that more of the packs have had pups.
Until then, she said, she’s waiting for good news — "with paws crossed".
