California officials may ban coyote killing. North State sheriffs say predator attacks are already at crisis level.
“What skin is it off the back of some biologist who has been programmed to think that ranchers don’t matter? We're going to turn the working man into a criminal." Mendocino County Sheriff Matt Kendall
The California Fish and Game Commission’s Wildlife Resources Committee (WRC) is considering a new rule that would ban killing coyotes without direct evidence of damage.
“In these policy-driven agencies like California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the policies become more important than written law,” says Mendocino County Sheriff Matt Kendall. “This puts ranchers at a complete and total disadvantage because policies don’t match the law, and put 100% of the management of predators in the hands of biologists who are not the least bit affected by the losses of ranchers.”
Current law allows coyotes to be culled without restriction. A 2021 report from the USDA found coyotes kill more than 300,000 livestock every year and injure far more. In 2020, coyotes caused over 32% of sheep loss and over 40% of lamb loss. A 2015 study found coyote predation caused the highest percentage of predator-related cattle deaths and calf deaths—40.5% and 53.1%, respectively.
Animal rights activists claim the policy change would prevent “horrific” animal cruelty.
Wolf predation a growing problem in Northern California
As further evidence of the misguided focus of California Fish & Wildlife, this rule change comes as North State counties report crisis-level wolf predation.
“We’re dealing with unprecedented attacks,” Sierra County Sheriff Mike Fisher says. “We’ve had 21 wolf attacks on our cattle in the past month, and here in the valley we probably only have 5-10% of our cows in. Over the next month, 10,000 cows will be returning to the valley.”
Fisher’s recent post on the Sierra County Sheriff Facebook page showed an elk killed by a wolf on a residential front porch.
“We have one or two wolves in particular that just do not fear human contact,” Fisher says. He believes it is a matter of time before a human is killed in a wolf interaction. “I’ve been shouting this from the rooftops. Fish & Wildlife hasn’t lost the ranchers’ trust completely yet, but they’re getting close. What is next year going to look like? And the year after?”
Kendall says its a matter of time until wolves make their way to Mendocino County, and ranchers will be in serious trouble when they do.
“When a rancher calls a game warden over livestock predation they are forwarded to a biologist and often told there’s no one available. Then after a few days they may or may not get a return call. I heard from a sheep rancher in Lake County who had a lion kill. The biologist told him to pen his sheep up in the barn. Somehow this lion gets in and kills between a dozen and 20 bred ewes that were about to lamb.”
Kendall argues that the kind of management ranchers seek is reasonable; nobody is “massacring hoards of coyote,” just particular animals that become a problem.
“What skin is it off the back of some biologist who most likely came out of a California school, who has been programmed to think that ranchers don’t matter? When policies don’t meet in the middle, we’re going to turn the working man into a criminal.”
Sheriff Matt Kendall, Mendocino County
North State sheriffs speak out
In a new joint statement, North State sheriffs have voiced their opposition to the rule against coyote management.
“This would eliminate proactive protection and force livestock producers into a depredation-based system, requiring proof of harm after the damage is done,” the statement reads.
Kendall says the show of solidarity from Northern California law enforcement is designed to signify to Sacramento politicians that “enough is enough.”
“These ranchers are just barely hanging on due to overregulation and everything else in the state, how much longer will they survive?” Kendall says. “There’s places that can’t afford to lose 20 sheep or 5 calves.”
Mariposa County Sheriff Jeremy Briese voiced similar concerns in his own public remarks.
“California’s proposed restrictions on predator management raise serious concerns for the well-being of our ranching and farming communities,” Briese said, “These types of policy decisions often overlook the practical realities faced by those who work the land every day.”
Native American reservation still manages predators
Kendall points out that the only place in his county that does not deal with serious predator issues is the Round Valley Indian Reservation.
“Because the Natives shoot them,” he says. “They’re not wiping them out, they’re not sport hunting, they’re doing exactly what ranchers would do: if they find a lion in their cattle, they are going to get hounds and shoot it. And they’re not breaking any laws because they’re doing it in the bounds of the reservation. Round Valley ranchers are not losing cattle because they’re managing predators, and deer herds are thriving.”
A new report from Washington state found that wolf populations declined by almost 10% in 2024 largely due to tribal hunting.
Meeting to discuss rule change in Sacramento on May 15
A meeting to discuss the proposed rule and receive comment from the community will be held on May 15th at 10 a.m. in Sacramento.
“That meeting should be interesting,” Fisher says. “There should be a lot of us sheriffs there.”
The assemply can be accessed remotely at this link.
Thank you for your coverage of this.
When I was a kid, the ban on coyote depredation destroyed the sheep industry in Mendocino County. Now, it's not just coyotes, it's lions. "They" say there are only 5,000 lions in California..., but if that is true, they are all in Mendocino County.