As california dries up, wildlife increasingly clashes with humans in search of water and food

When drought strikes California, it’s not just crops and lawns that suffer—wild animals are driven from their natural habitats in search of water and food, leading to a dramatic spike in conflicts with humans. A comprehensive new study analyzing six years of wildlife incident reports reveals how climate-driven water shortages are fundamentally changing the relationship between people and the animals in their backyards.

Researchers examined over 31,000 wildlife encounters reported to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife between 2017 and 2023, finding a clear pattern: as rainfall decreased, animal conflicts surged. For every inch of precipitation lost, reported incidents jumped by more than 2 percent. The majority of these encounters—over 18,000 cases—involved property damage, from black bears breaking into homes and pumas attacking livestock to wild pigs destroying gardens and turkeys wreaking havoc on landscaping.

Black bears topped the list of problematic species, followed by wild pigs, mountain lions, coyotes, and beavers. The study found that densely populated areas with lots of trees were particularly prone to conflicts, likely because these environments offer both human resources that attract desperate wildlife and the cover animals need to approach undetected.

This troubling trend isn’t unique to California. As climate change intensifies drought conditions worldwide, researchers warn that similar human-wildlife conflicts will become increasingly common in water-scarce regions globally. The findings underscore an urgent need for communities to develop strategies that help both people and animals adapt to our rapidly changing climate.