After 15 years, four records and a buzz-making barrage of shows, tours and festivals, the moody, multifaceted music of north London’s Wolf Alice is huge in the U.K., thanks to uniquely seductive soundscapes, visceral live shows and a relentless hunger for experimentation that melds rock, shoegaze and alternative pop.
With their latest studio album, “The Clearing,” the members are primed for the next level of success in the U.S., and it comes via songs that reflect their growth as individuals and as a collective.
Consisting of lead singer Ellie Rowsell, guitarist Joff Oddie, bassist Theo Ellis and drummer Joel Amey, Wolf Alice provides both feminine and masculine perspectives on life that feel resonant and real, with sonic approaches that can go from raging one moment to restrained the next. They’ve honed their sound even as they’ve continued to experiment with it. The result is exciting for them and for fans, now more than ever.
“This tour has been incredible. It’s definitely been the busiest and had the biggest shows we’ve ever played in America,” Ellis tells The Times via Zoom, noting that the band’s upcoming Wiltern date in Los Angeles on Oct. 13 is almost sold out.
Wolf Alice’s connection to Los Angeles is especially significant at this phase of its career. “The Clearing” was recorded here with famed producer Greg Kurstin (Adele, Miley Cyrus), who brought his pop sensibilities to the project, even as he encouraged the band to follow its own eclectic instincts, dipping into synthy, dancy elements and balladry with bite.
“We’ve had a different producer every album, so every experience has been quite different,” says drummer Amey, who joins our Zoom later. “He was just a very calm and positive force in the studio that made all of us feel very comfortable, to be able to be the best versions of ourselves … And it did come at a time where maybe even the four of us were second-guessing ourselves. We’d been in this headspace for a while about how we wanted to treat the sonics of the record. You can get stuck in that cycle … But he was so positive that he could help us get there, and he did.”
As Taylor Swift’s latest record brings scrutiny to the construction and thematics of pop music and its presentation, Wolf Alice’s seductive sway and wistful grit feels comparatively effortless, even if it’s just as accessible.
Buzz in the U.S. started after a killer set at Coachella 2016, but we caught Wolf Alice the following year at Dave Grohl’s Cal Jam in 2017. Its emotive alt-rock melodies and charisma more than held its own next to headliners including fellow-Brit Liam Gallagher and the Foo Fighters themselves (who the band has also toured with). The material, largely off its first and second albums, “My Love Is Cool” and “Visions of a Life,” respectively, offered a compelling blend of sharp riffage and dreamy textures, which reminded us of everyone from Smashing Pumpkins to Cocteau Twins at the time. Standout tracks we noted included the dissonant “Yuk Foo” and the sassy hit “Don’t Delete the Kisses.”
After another shimmering genre-blending release, 2021’s “Blue Weekend,” and now “The Clearing,” it’s almost a decade later, and the band is even harder to codify. The members are also bonafide touring and festival vets.
“In the U.K., festival culture is, like, a whole thing. The U.S. is kind of getting more like that too,” Amey says. “But European and U.K. festival culture is a rite of passage for a teenager … it’s ingrained. If you’re starting a band, you’re thinking about festivals at some point. So we love playing them. We played Glastonbury this year, and it just felt like a really wonderful way to say, ‘We’re back, here’s some new stuff,’ and also a celebration of the old stuff.”
Old or new, creative imagery has been a consistent component of Wolf Alice’s expression. Building upon the cinematic qualities of its music, its videos elevate not only its narratives but also its rock-star personas as well.
“This album explores themes of performance which I think is prevalent in the music videos and musically, in rock ’n’ roll which we also explore,” frontwoman Rowsell shares by email. “In the past Wolf Alice have shied away from performance videos so this marks a new vibe for us.”
“Bloom Baby Bloom,” which features an “All That Jazz”-style dance sequence (with choreography by L.A.’s Ryan Heffington, known for his magical movements on the Netflix cult fave “The OA” and in Sia’s “Chandelier”) brings out the drama and audacious expression of the song, especially Rowsell’s soaring vocals. It also highlights the band’s maturation and liberation as established artists at the height of their performing powers.
Similarly, “Just Two Girls,” a sweet ode to female friendship that’s a cool, ’70s soft-rock filler track on record, becomes more of a defiant anthem for feminine freedom on video.
“It’s a wonderful license of expression in which you can kind of do whatever you want,” reflects Ellis on the videos. “It’s absurdist in its nature and there are really interesting formats to explore. We’ve had some great experiences in America making them.”
The band has also had memorable moments on Amercian late-night TV, including “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” turning in wild appearances that reflect its name (inspired by a book about feral children raised by wolves).
And while good old-fashioned live performance has helped its popularity grow, the band acknowledges that the music industry is different — even from when it started 15 years ago, with streaming’s domination and platforms like TikTok exposing music to new audiences. For a band driven by its own interpersonal chemistry, interactions and influences, it’s not top of mind.
“We’re not concerned with how it’s going to be distributed to people fundamentally, as we’re creatively trying to satisfy ourselves,” Ellis says. “I don’t think the mechanics of [music discovery] are affecting what we’re making in the studio or the creative process. There’s so much for a band to create nowadays, and to worry about … from our perspective, the music is what comes first and then everything else is hopefully just kind of a fun way of presenting it to the world.”
Former adult film actor Austin Wolf has received his prison sentence on two counts of child sexual exploitation.
Content warning: This story includes topics that could make some readers feel uncomfortable and/or upset.
On 26 September (Friday), US District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer sentenced the 44-year-old – whose real name is Justin Heath Smith – to19 years in prison for one count of enticing a minor to engage in sexual activity and one count for engaging in a pattern of activity involving prohibited sexual conduct.
Alongside his prison sentence, the court imposed a $40,000 fine and 10 years of supervised release.
“Justin Heath Smith’s crimes against children are horrible. He targeted kids as young as seven, and every New Yorker wants him and those like him off our streets for as long as possible and never again near our children,” US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton said in a statement.
“The women and men of our Office, and our law enforcement partners, are laser-focused on ridding our streets of those who sexually exploit our children. The message to predators from our Office is clear: there is no place for you in New York other than prison.”
According to the official complaint, a detailed investigation into Smith first started in April 2024 after the intelligence and security service seized the phone of another Telegram user named ‘Target Telegram User-1.’
Instagram
While reviewing the individual’s records, they discovered a correspondence with another account named ‘Anon Anon,’ who was believed to be Smith.
During their exchange, which reportedly took place between 24 March and 28 March 2024, the two users allegedly shared “approximately 200 videos” of child pornography “that depicted children as young as infants,” the document read.
After their arrest, ‘Target Telegram User-1’ took part in an interview with authorities, revealing that they had previously met with ‘Anon Anon’ in person, and shared details that matched Smith’s – including “physical description, vocation, and approximate address,” the document continued.
After ‘Target Telegram User-1’ claimed that ‘Anon Anon’ kept child pornography on his home computer, law enforcement executed a search of Smith’s apartment, where they seized his phone and an SD card.
On 20 June, nearly a year after his arrest, Smith pleaded guilty to enticement of a minor during his plea hearing.
According to theNew York Post, the former adult film star admitted to the court to “inducing a 15-year-old to engage in a sex act” in late 2023 or early 2024.
“I don’t remember through text or [social media], but phones were definitely used. I know what I was doing was wrong,” Smith reportedly said in between sobs.
“I apologise. I knew it was wrong when I did it. I don’t blame anyone else for my conduct [although] it was another person engaging in the conduct. I take full 100 percent responsibility for my actions, and I am prepared for the consequences.”
For more information about the case, Smith’s plea agreement and statements made in court, click here.
Wish chew were here? The unusual foreign foods we’ve ‘enjoyed’ on our travels, from century eggs and frog stew, to guinea pig in Peru and rattlesnake with bison testicles in Texas
Why not try some cow stomach lining?(Image: Supplied)
Going on holiday abroad has many pleasures – new horizons to explore, new cultures to embrace and new food to try. But when you order off an unfamiliar menu more in hope than expectation, it’s possible to end up with a plate of mystery morsels.
So, in the spirit of culinary curiosity, we asked our journalists (a pretty well-travelled bunch) for their foreign food memories.
To start the undercooked meatball rolling, I’ll contribute braised jellyfish with ‘century egg’ (fermented for months until a gelatinous greenish-grey) for an awful eggs-over-queasy breakfast in China, whole baby frogs in Thailand, guinea pig in Peru and rattlesnake with bison testicles in Texas. The rattlesnake wasn’t too bad. A bit like chicken…
What’s the most unusual food you’ve ever eaten? Let us know in the comments below or by emailing [email protected]
Peter Rickman (production): “Octopus cooked in its own ink in the then Yugoslavia. Now I like a bit of octopus but this was like chunks of rubber floating in a watery black broth with two sad looking school dinner boiled potatoes… no thanks.”
Ben Rankin (editors): “Horse intestines – never again. We were in a lovely restaurant in Kazakhstan, with a feast of food served to us, including special occasion dish Beshbarmak.
“The noodles and the horse meat were fine but the smelly, chewy, white intestine bites were difficult to, erm, stomach. I couldn’t get enough of the Kumys (mare’s milk) to wash it down and the Baursak (puffy bread) to get rid of the taste!’’
Clare Fitzsimons (books): “Who doesn’t love a boiled egg? Me it turns out when it’s been cooked for about three seconds and then poured – yes poured – into a cup for you to eat (or clearly in this case drink) for breakfast.
“Singapore is a wonderful place but my breakfast left a lot to be desired and while bodybuilders like to neck raw eggs, it’s definitely not for me.”
Lawrence Goldsmith (cartoons): “In Iceland I was served Hakarl, or fermented shark.
“It’s a traditional dish made from Greenland shark meat, cured through a fermentation process and then hung to dry. I was told that it was an ‘acquired taste’. If you like a dish tasting like highly spiced leather this is the one for you.’’
Milo Boyd (travel): “Wiggly eel and frog stew: both fished out of a river in Croatia’s Neretva Delta in front of me and then served whole and steaming.
“The local community even came out to watch me tackle the slippery concoction, despite all of my protestations that I am a vegetarian.’’
Mark Silver (sport): “I was with my girlfriend in her homeland of Belarus. And I was in the mood to propose to her after a good few years together. Well, I ended up not having the stomach for it, literally, after she dished up a traditional Belarusian delicacy – raw pig sausage.
“The smell did not entice me. It is a pig intestine stuffed with minced or chopped meat and spices.’’
Michael Ham (sport): “A 10-course meal is not to be sniffed at anywhere, but the Minazuki custard with conger eel, scallop and veggies I had in Japan was also not to be sniffed at, if you catch my drift. And then it was followed by courses of crab brains and squid guts…. ‘’
Siobhan McNally (features): “On a visit to Vilnius, Lithuania, in the late 1990s, we were served a traditional lunch of chewy boiled pigs’ ears for starters followed by Cepelinai or “zeppelins”, which are stuffed potato dumplings. We hungrily ate them up, and then our host explained ‘cooks make them like this’ before proceeding to spit in his hands and mould an imaginary German airship. We all stopped chewing and regurgitated the remains into our napkins. Now I will eat most things but I draw the line at human spittle.’’
Andrew Gilpin (editors): “Fermented shark (again!) No one knew how it came to this: our Icelandic host dancing about with a knife in his hand and a giant cod eye in his mouth. That wasn’t even the worst thing eaten that day. The fermented ancient shark buried for months to give it that distinctive ammonia taste surely was. Even though it was five years ago I can still summon up the ‘taste’ in my nostrils. ‘A delicacy 400 years in the making’ – and certainly not worth it.’’
Karin Wright (production): “On a food tour of Florence – lampredotto (lining of a cow’s fourth stomach) from a food truck, served in a sandwich with a strong salad verde (presumably to obscure the taste)… interesting flavour, awful texture. I took a bite to be polite.’’
Aaron Flanagan (sport): “Singapore’s ‘Ice kachang’ translates very literally into ‘iced beans’ and is a traditional Malay dessert. Online reviews claim it is supposed to be a thirst-quenching concoction, but the combination of ice, jelly and red beans looks like something a five-year-old would throw together. Imagine freezing your chilli con carne overnight and eating it seconds after it leaves the freezer. Some foods shouldn’t have iced alternatives.’’
Vicky Lissaman (travel): “Wolf, on the Côte d’Azur, France. It was described on a restaurant menu as ‘loup’ and I thought it was probably some sort of fish. (This was long before we had mobile phones to Google the meaning of words). When it arrived, all bleu and bloody, I thought that perhaps they had given me someone else’s steak. But then the waiter confirmed that it was, in fact, exactly what I ordered – wolf. I howled with laughter, and then spent a lot of time chewing it and forcing it down as if it was a bushtucker trial.’’
Chris Granet (production): “Grilled cat, on a drunken Friday night in a Rio de Janeiro favela. It wasn’t great. A bit sinewy.”
Graham Greene, the Oscar-nominated actor who helped open doors for Indigenous actors in Hollywood, died on Monday in Toronto after battling a long illness, Deadline and others report. The Canadian actor was 73.
Born in Ohsweken, on the Six Nations Reserve, Greene saw his Hollywood profile catapult after Kevin Costner cast him as Kicking Bird (Ziŋtká Nagwáka) in 1990’s “Dances With Wolves,” which won the Academy Award for best picture and earned Greene an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor.
During his screen career, which began with the 1979 Canadian drama series “The Great Detective,” Greene was cast in more than 180 films and TV shows. His first movie role was in 1983’s “Running Brave.”
He went on to star in several other high-profile films including “Maverick,” “The Green Mile,” “Die Hard With a Vengeance” and “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2.” The actor also appeared in “Tulsa King,” “Riverdale” and as Maximus in the final season of the Emmy-nominated show “Reservation Dogs,” which was among his final roles.
Graham Greene, right, and Kevin Costner in “Dances With Wolves.”
(Courtesy of Orion Pictures Corp.)
At the time of his death, he had eight upcoming projects, including the Stefan Ruzowitzky-directed thriller “Ice Fall,” which he had completed filming with Joel Kinnaman and Danny Huston. It’s scheduled to be released in October.
“He was a great man of morals, ethics and character and will be eternally missed,” Greene’s agent Michael Greene (no relation) said in a statement released to several outlets, including Deadline and TMZ. “You are finally free. Susan Smith is meeting you at the gates of heaven,” he added, referring to the actor’s former agent, who died in 2013.
Graham Greene and Molly Kunz in a scene from the 2021 drama “The Wolf and the Lion.”
(Emmanuel Guionet / Courtesy of Blue Fox Entertainment)
Outside of his acting career, Greene won a Grammy in 2000 for best spoken word album for children for his work on “Listen to the Storyteller.” He is also a Gemini and Canadian Screen Award winner and an Independent Spirit nominee. In 2021, he was immortalized with a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame, and earlier this year, he received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award in his native country.
Graham Greene in 2022 at the unveiling of his commemorative plaque for Arts & Entertainment on Canada’s Walk of Fame at Beanfield Centre in Toronto.
(Mathew Tsang / Getty Images)
In 1991, Greene told The Times that “Dances With Wolves” “was certainly the biggest film I’ve done. It’s made definite changes in my life — I’m more popular with the media, scripts are being offered to me from people I’ve never heard of. On the other hand, I’m being inundated. It’s good in a way. I shouldn’t complain.”
Greene is survived by his wife of 35 years, Hilary Blackmore; daughter Lilly Lazare-Greene; and grandson Tarlo.
Welcome to Screen Gab, the newsletter for everyone who needs a mental health break from the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce engagement vortex.
Three years after “The Terminal List” ended its first season, Prime Video’s prequel to the military-espionage thriller arrives. The debut season of the flagship series concluded with — spoiler alert! — Navy SEAL commander James Reece (Chris Pratt) discovering his closest ally, Ben Edwards (Taylor Kitsch) was involved in the ambush mission that led to the death of his platoon, as well as his wife and daughter. “The Terminal List: Dark Wolf” traces Ben’s journey from Navy SEAL to CIA operative. Creator and showrunner David DiGilio stopped by to discuss expanding the Jack Carr book universe and working with Kitsch.
Also in this week’s Screen Gab, our streaming recommendations are different types of nostalgia plays: Noah Hawley’s timely television prequel to the ‘Alien’ film franchise that is set on Earth, and “Gunsmoke,” the classic western that first hit TV screens 70 years ago and is finding new life in the streaming era.
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Must-read stories you might have missed
Olivia Colman, left, and Benedict Cumberbatch of “The Roses,” a remake of “The War of the Roses,” photographed in London in June.
Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times
Sydney Chandler as Wendy in FX’s “Alien: Earth.”
(Patrick Brown / FX)
“Alien: Earth” (Hulu, Disney+)
Reimagining a nearly 50-year-old franchise like “Alien” isn’t for the faint of heart (or stomach). The iconic sci-fi horror saga has already spawned a tangled web of sequels, prequels and spin-offs of wildly varying quality. But Noah Hawley — who turned “Fargo” and “Legion” into bold, brainy extensions of their cinematic roots — brings a jolt of fresh, unnerving life to “Alien: Earth.” The horror is real, the xenomorphs still terrifying (and, yes, there are new critters too). But this isn’t just eight hours of people running from acid-blooded monsters. It’s a sprawling, idea-rich vision of a future ruled by tech oligopolies, where minds are uploaded into synthetic bodies and morality is outsourced to machines — a world as indebted to Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner” as his original “Alien.” The monsters are back, but the deeper thrill is how Hawley keeps you thinking even as you’re bracing for the next kill. Now midway through its eight‑episode run, “Alien: Earth” doesn’t just extend a franchise. It reanimates it with a mind of its own and a brand-new set of fangs. — Josh Rottenberg
James Arness, Amanda Blake, Ken Curtis and Milburn Stone in “Gunsmoke.”
(CBS)
“Gunsmoke” (Peacock, Pluto TV)
I long for the simple times when my family and I would gather around the television to watch the latest episode of “Gunsmoke.” The drama that featured James Arness as no-nonsense Marshal Matt Dillon was a staple in millions of households throughout its 20-year run, which ended in 1975. In the streaming era, “Gunsmoke” is now sparking a lot of new heat, and has ranked at least twice among Nielsen’s top 10 list of most-streamed acquired series. Beginning Saturday, MeTV will kick off a month-long 70th anniversary salute to the drama, airing specially-themed weeks such as “Best Characters of Dodge City” and five made-for-TV movies. — Greg Braxton
Guest spot
A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching
Ben Edwards (Taylor Kitsch), James Reece (Chris Pratt) in “The Terminal List: Dark Wolf.”
(Justin Lubin / Prime)
Taylor Kitsch rose to fame with his portrayal of brooding football player Tim Riggins on “Friday Night Lights,” but he’s spent a good portion of his career since then stepping into the military mindset — as my former colleague Michael Ordoña astutely unpacked in his profile of the actor. With “The Terminal List: Dark Wolf,” which further expands Jack Carr’s book universe, Kitsch reprises his role as Navy SEAL-turned-CIA operative Ben Edwards in Prime Video’s prequel to 2022’s Chris Pratt-led series. Premiering its first three episodes earlier this week, the series takes place five years before the events of the first season of “The Terminal List” and explores Ben’s origin story and his crisis of faith that eventually led to his betrayal of James Reece (Pratt). Showrunner David DiGilio stopped by Screen Gab recently to discuss why Ben is a worthwhile character for a spin-off, the story behind that AC/DC needle drop and more. — Yvonne Villarreal
What was it about the story of Ben Edwards that resonated with you and made you so passionate about wanting to explore his origin story?
Ben is an ever-evolving character. He was different in the book than he was in our scripts for Season 1 of “The Terminal List.” Then Taylor arrived and brought a whole new layer of empathy, complexity and danger to the role. Unlike Reece, who represents a light wolf character pulled into a dark place by a conspiracy, Ben Edwards is a man with innate darkness inside him. But he also values loyalty, brotherhood and freedom. And that dichotomy in a character means we can give Taylor a ton of great stuff to play. It makes Ben unpredictable. And we get to watch how Ben evolves from a leader in the SEAL Teams to a Black Side Operator who thinks he can use his dark wolf for good.
You had involvement from real veterans in the making of the series, including in the writing of the season. There are seven episodes and five were written by veterans. Walk me through finding the voices to join the room and how did that enrich discussion as you broke stories?
As we were making Season 1 of the flagship series, we made a commitment to military authenticity. The lived experience is what defines Jack Carr’s writing in the books, and we wanted to make sure it translated to the shows. During Season 1 of “The Terminal List,” two military veteran storytellers in particular — Max Adams, a former Army Ranger, and Jared Shaw, a former Navy SEAL — really stepped up our action and authenticity and our storytelling overall. When it came time for “Dark Wolf,” we elevated Max and Jared to executive producer[s]. And we were able to include Jack Carr in more of the writing and creating side of the show as well. But we didn’t stop there. We brought writer-producer Kenny Sheard — also a former SEAL — into the writers room and brought back Ray Mendoza — a former SEAL and technical advisor on Season 1 — to second unit direct. So, between Max, Jared, Kenny, Ray and Jack Carr himself, I don’t think you have a show that’s more committed to getting it right for the military veteran audience.
Is there a personal connection — for you or the veterans who worked on the show — behind the use of AC/DC’s “Hells Bells” to score the time jump in the first episode?
Interesting story. We were trying to use Led Zeppelin for that training montage in the pilot. The band is notoriously tricky to clear, but we made it to about the five yard line before it got denied. Sadly, we’d been temp-editing with that song for months and were all quite attached. So we now had to pivot … quickly. We found AC/DC’s “Hells Bells” by asking our military veteran storytellers for bands/songs that were big for them during deployments. AC/DC was near the top of the list, and the civilian side of our EP team had connections to the music as well. We tried three AC/DC songs for the sequence, and “Hells Bells” was a no-brainer. But, truly, a classic example of the adage “don’t fall in love with the temp.” We made this music selection way tougher than it needed to be!
Tell us a good story about Taylor Kitsch and his time on the inflatable boat.
I think the biggest thing we learned from putting Taylor on that boat in the pilot is that we weren’t in Kansas anymore. Meaning, Budapest production is very different than production in the U.S. In the States, you would have a full “marine unit” dedicated to getting a scene like that. Half a dozen camera boats and follow boats built specifically to capture that sequence. In Budapest, we were tying camera men down on the boat itself, and turning tourist river boats into parts of our armada. Boats could not keep up with those beastly gunship engines. Smaller boats got waked. We got the scene, and we got it safely. But after the ease of filming the flagship series in Los Angeles, I think that day told all of us that Budapest would be a city with unique production challenges. But I give a huge hat tip to the Budapest crew, because even on a day like that, they never complained. And I think having the cast and American crew together in a foreign city really helped bond us all into one big family.
What have you watched recently that you are recommending to everyone you know?
My last watch was probably while flying to and from South Africa and Toronto for the filming of “The Terminal List” Season 2. I downloaded and binged “Adolescence” [Netflix] and Season 2 of “Andor” [Disney+]. I’m surprised more folks don’t talk about “Andor.” It’s probably the most smartly-written show on streaming these days. A World War II resistance film wrapped up in incredible sci-fi visuals. And on “Adolescence,” the performances were incredible. But note to all, whatever you do, don’t watch that show’s finale in a crowded airport lounge in London. I was bawling.
What’s your go-to “comfort watch,” the movie or TV show you go back to again and again?
Might not surprise folks to hear, but it’s either “Saving Private Ryan” [Prime Video, Pluto TV] or “Gladiator” [Prime Video, Paramount +]. Both movies capture the warrior’s ethos and sense of brotherhood that we strive for in the “Terminal List” shows. They also combine great action with big emotional character-driven scenes. Hollywood’s balance of VFX and character work was probably at its zenith right around the turn of the century. So I love to rewatch those films as a reminder of the balance I strive for in my writing, and for the balance we try to build into the Jack Carr Universe shows.
SIERRA VALLEY, Calif. — Standing among his cattle in a broad green pasture, beneath a brilliant blue sky about an hour north of Lake Tahoe, rancher Dan Greenwood surveyed the idyllic landscape and called it what he feels it has become: a death trap.
Behind him, a 3-month-old calf that had been mauled by wolves the night before lay in the grass with deep wounds on its flanks. Two of its legs were so badly injured they could barely support the calf’s weight when it tried to stand. The animal’s agitated mother paced a few feet away.
Greenwood wrapped his hand around one of the calf’s ankles and gently rolled it onto its back to inspect the savage bite wounds.
The first wild wolf monitored by scientists via an electronic collar crossed from Oregon into California in 2011. Today, there are seven established packs in the Golden State.
(Malia Byrtus / California Wolf Project/UC Berkeley)
He was trying to decide whether to give the calf another day to see if it could recover enough to keep up with its mother — or put it out of its misery before the wolves returned to finish the job.
“If I can just walk up and grab him, then so can the wolf,” Greenwood said with a pained look on his face. “That’s not a challenge for them at all.”
What is a challenge in the rugged expanse of the Sierra Valley right now is keeping up with all the calls coming in from ranchers whose cattle have been mauled by wolves. Across the valley, which straddles Sierra and Plumas counties, there have been 30 confirmed wolf attacks since March, 18 of them fatal, said Sierra County Sheriff Mike Fisher.
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That doesn’t include a deer that was attacked in a subdivision just outside the small town of Loyalton as stunned residents looked on in disbelief, or the massive, frenzied elk that was chased onto a front porch in the middle of an April night and slaughtered by two wolves. A terrified 21-year-old stood on the other side of the front door, clutching a pistol and wondering if someone was trying to break in.
Once the “ruckus” died down enough for him to open the door and peek outside, Connor Kilmurray said, he saw “blood everywhere, it was smeared on the walls and the door. … It was definitely a massacre.”
When Fisher arrived to investigate, he was relieved that the desperate elk, which weighed hundreds of pounds, hadn’t crashed straight through the front door and into the living room with two snarling wolves on its heels.
Sierra County Sheriff Mike Fisher shows where wolves slaughtered an elk late at night on the front steps of a home in Loyalton.
“If it had just been a foot over, two feet over, that would have been quite an awakening,” Fisher said.
For ranchers, the solution to the growing problem in California’s rural northern counties seems obvious: They want to shoot the wolves preying on their cattle.
But while wolf populations are large enough that hunting them is allowed in much of the American West — in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming — they are still listed as an endangered species in California. Killing a wolf here is a crime punishable by a fine of up to $100,000 and up to a year in prison.
Local authorities say there have been 30 confirmed wolf attacks on cattle in the Sierra Valley since March, 18 of them fatal.
Whether Sierra Valley ranchers would face such consequences is another question. The wolf attacks feel so out of control, said Sierra County Dist. Atty. Sandra Groven, that she would not pursue charges against a rancher who kills a wolf caught preying on cattle.
Groven cautioned that she was not giving carte blanche to poachers to engage in “outrageous conduct,” or issuing a license for anyone to “go on a killing spree.” But given the frequency of wolf attacks in the valley recently, she said, she doesn’t see how she could bring charges against one of her neighbors for defending themselves or their property.
“Bottom line, I would not prosecute,” Groven said. “What are they supposed to do? Run up and wave their arms and say, ‘Go away’?”
The struggle between ranchers and wolves is as old as herding itself, and nobody interviewed for this article wanted to repeat the sins of the past: By the early 20th century, wolves in the United States had been hunted to near extinction. Only a small pack remained in northern Minnesota when then-President Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act in 1973 and wolves were added to a list of protected animals.
With their numbers still low two decades later, government biologists reintroduced wolves from Canada to central Idaho and Yellowstone National Park. In the years since, they have prospered and slowly migrated across the West.
“We feel like our hands are tied,” rancher Dan Greenwood says of his efforts to protect his cattle from wolves. “We’re exhausted, and there’s zero help.”
(Andy Barron / For The Times)
The first wild wolf monitored by scientists via an electronic collar crossed from Oregon into California in 2011. Today, there are seven established packs in the Golden State, with an estimated population of about 70 wild wolves.
State wildlife biologists and other conservationists excited at the prospect of a wolf comeback assumed the predators would target their natural prey, mostly deer and elk. But decades of logging and climate change have vastly altered the forests and terrain in much of Northern California, leaving deer and elk in short supply. Instead, many of the wolves have taken to hunting the lumbering, docile, domesticated cattle grazing in plain sight on wide-open pastures.
When that happens, ranchers say, it’s like someone coming into your store and stealing from the shelves. Nobody pretends cattle are pets — they’re bred and raised to be slaughtered. But no business can survive for long without some way to protect the merchandise.
To defend the livestock, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife promotes non-lethal “hazing” of the predators, which can include firing guns toward the sky, driving trucks and ATVs toward wolves to try to shoo them away and harassing them with noise from drones. But according to local ranchers, none of that seems to work, at least not for long.
And that has led to near rebellion in California’s northeastern counties, including Sierra, where local authorities have declared a state of emergency and are begging state officials for permission to more aggressively “remove” problem wolves.
The reason hazing doesn’t seem to work, according to ranchers, is that the wolves appear to have no fear of humans. And the cattle, which have gone generations without having to deal with these apex predators, seem to have forgotten how to defend themselves by sticking together in herds.
Turning such naive, docile cattle loose in sprawling pastures is a little like turning “me loose in downtown L.A.,” said Cameron Krebs, a fifth-generation rancher in eastern Oregon who has been dealing with aggressive wolves for years. “I might get hurt, might run into the wrong person, might get run over by a car, just because I don’t have the sense to look both ways,” he said with a laugh.
Krebs has become something of a hero in environmental circles for his dedication to finding non-lethal ways to co-exist with wolves, which boil down to making sure the animals in his herd stick together — the way wild buffalo and elk do — so it’s harder for wolves to single out and separate one of them.
But that takes a lot of time and manpower, and there are inevitably wolves that outwit even the most well-intentioned efforts. “At that point, you need to be able to shoot them,” Krebs said. “It’s just one of the tools in the toolbox.”
UC Davis researchers Tina Saitone, left, and Ken Tate mount a camera to capture wolf activity.
A camera attached to a fence port monitors wolf activity.
Back in the Sierra Valley, Greenwood said he saw his first wolf in 2018, from his living room window, standing over a calf it had just killed. “It was just taunting me,” Greenwood said in disbelief.
But things didn’t get really bad until 2022, when he lost nearly two dozen animals to the increasingly brazen wolves. Since then, he said, he has been fighting an exhausting, losing battle.
“I felt really, really bad as we were shipping cows in here in May,” Greenwood said, standing in an immense pasture on a portion of his ranch in nearby Red Clover Valley. “It’s beautiful up here; there’s plenty of grass growing. Everything’s right for them, except there’s wolves circling in the hills just waiting for those trucks to get here.”
He’s versed in the non-lethal techniques promoted by environmental advocates and embraced by the Department of Fish and Wildlife, but his shoulders slumped and his eyes searched the horizon as he explained how impractical they seem to him now.
“Profit margins are so, so thin,” he said, noting that some people seem to think all ranchers are as rich as Kevin Costner’s character on “Yellowstone.” But his reality is nothing like TV.
“It’s just me and another guy running 1,200 acres of irrigated hay and 600 cows,” Greenwood said. “I could maybe get all of these cows into a corral at night if I had six guys on horses helping me,” but there’s no money for that.
“We feel like our hands are tied. We’re exhausted, and there’s zero help,” Greenwood said.
UC Davis researcher Ken Tate points to wolf fur caught on a barbed-wire fence.
In 2021, the state set up a $3-million pilot project to reimburse ranchers for cattle lost to wolves and help pay for non-lethal deterrents, such as flags tied to electrified fences and lights affixed to fence posts.
But Greenwood said by the time he finished filling out all the paperwork for the cattle he lost in 2022, the state money had run out. “I still haven’t seen a dime,” he said.
Arthur Middleton, a professor of wildlife management working with UC Berkeley’s California Wolf Project, said he’s been taken aback by how bold the wolves are becoming in the Sierra Valley.
In April, while a TV news crew from Sacramento was filming an interview with the sheriff in a cattle pasture, two gray wolves appeared in the background stalking the livestock, Middleton recounted. The sight of them so close to the road in broad daylight, with a noisy news crew filming nearby, was like nothing he has witnessed in many years of working on wolf recovery.
“That just goes to show what an incredible challenge ranchers and wildlife managers have on their hands,” Middleton said.
For many Sierra Valley residents, the question is no longer whether problem wolves are going to be forcefully removed, it’s who is going to do it. Pissed-off ranchers? Or environmental professionals working with an eye to eliminate the most prolific cattle killers while preserving the rest of the pack?
There’s a joke circulating in the valley this spring: “Shoot, shovel and shut up,” Groven said. She added that she doesn’t think any of the ranchers have followed through on the implied threat, but said it would be hard to blame them if they did.
Fisher, the sheriff, said he would like the authority to shoot a wolf he believes poses a risk to human safety — like the pair that chased the elk onto someone’s front porch. But he thinks the Department of Fish and Wildlife should be responsible for “removing” wolves that habitually attack cattle.
“They’re very patient,” rancher Dan Greenwood says of using non-lethal methods to scare off wolves. “They just outlast you.”
Greenwood said he’s not advocating for the elimination of the wolves. He just wants to be able to protect his livestock.
He saw the wolves moving among his cattle the night the 3-month-old calf was mauled and another one was killed. Following the law, he kept his hands off his gun and revved up his ATV, chasing the predators more than a mile away, hoping that was far enough to keep the cattle safe.
It wasn’t. “They’re very patient,” Greenwood said. “They just outlast you.”
The 3-month-old calf? It died of its wounds before the wolves could return.
