Endangered Gray Wolf Wanders into California

For those wildlife enthusiast, we thought you might want to know that the Gray Wolf has returned to California. The above picture is of one of the Gray Wolves we saw on one of our Yellowstone National Park trips. Here is the post from KTLA's Website:
SISKIYOU COUNTY, Calif. (KTLA) -- Wildlife biologists say a gray wolf that was wandering in southern Oregon has crossed into California. 
Officials say the animal is a 2-1/2 year old male formerly from a pack in northeast Oregon.  The wolf, designated OR7, is collared with a Global Positioning System (GPS) device that periodically transmits its location.  Biologists have been documenting its travels since February 2011.  Based on the GPS data, the wolf is now more than 300 miles from where his journey began.  Thursday, the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) learned that OR7 crossed the state line into northern Siskiyou County on Wednesday. Tracking data puts his most recent location as a few miles south of the Oregon border. 
Wildlife officials say it's not possible to predict where the wolf will go next; he could return to Oregon.  In California, the gray wolf is protected as endangered under the Federal Endangered Species Act.  "Whether one is for it or against it, the entry of this lone wolf into California is an historic event and result of much work by the wildlife agencies in the West," said DFG Director Charlton H. Bonham. "If the gray wolf does establish a population in California, there will be much more work to do here." 
The last confirmed wild gray wolf in California was killed in Lassen County in 1924.

Comments

  1. At this moment we are camped on a ridgeline that overlooks the California Wolf Center. We hear them howling both morning and evening. the center is apparently involved with the state to reintroduce wolves. Speaking of trails.... The southern portion of the PCT runs right by the wolf center.

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