An Oregon gray wolf which crossed the California border Dec. 28 continues to be closely monitored by state wildlife officials.
Updates on the position and progress of OR7, as the 2-and-a-half-year-old male is known, is available at a new Web site, www.dfg.ca.gov/wolf/.
OR7 currently is reported to be in Lassen County, where he’s remained for approximately one week, the Department of Fish and Game said.
Lassen County also happens to be the location where the last wild gray wolf in California was killed in 1924, the Department of Fish and Game said.
Originally part of the Imnaha wolf pack, located in northeastern Oregon, the wolf has traveled more than 300 miles into California, officials reported.
He’s reportedly being monitored through various means, including a global positioning system device that periodically transmits its location.
His behavior, called “dispersal,” is not atypical of a male wolf his age and may be a result of natural competition among the males in the pack, seeking out a mate or better mating status in another pack, or seeking out a new food source if the original pack has overbred or there is limited amount of prey in the area, the Department of Fish and Game reported.
While OR7 is the only documented wolf in California, any wild gray wolf that returns to California is protected under the Federal Endangered Species Act, administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The federal law generally prohibits the harassment, harm, pursuit, hunting, shooting, wounding, killing, trapping, capture or collection of wolves in California, or the attempt to engage in any such conduct, officials said. Penalties include fines up to $100,000 and one-year imprisonment.
Though many sightings have been reported, all other recent “wolf” sightings that have been investigated in California have been found to be something else, such as a coyote, a dog or a hybrid wolf-dog. Despite reports to the contrary, the Department of Fish and Game is not aware of confirmed sightings of other wolves in California since 1924.
A helpful graphic to help distinguish a wolf from a coyote is available at
http://fwp.mt.gov/fishAndWildlife/management/wolf/wolfCoyote.html.
Concerns about human safety are largely based on folklore and are unsubstantiated, the agency said.
In recent years there was one human mortality in Canada caused either by wolves or bears and one confirmed human mortality in Alaska by wolves, according to the state. Based on experience from states where substantial wolf populations now exist, wolves pose little risk to humans.
However, the Department of Fish and Game recommends that people never approach a wolf, or otherwise interact with or feed a wolf.
Farmers and ranchers can reduce the likelihood of attracting wolves and other predators by removing potential sources of food and other attractants from their land such as discarded animal carcasses, bone piles, etc.
More about how to avoid human-wildlife interactions can be found on the Department of Fish and Game’s Web site at www.dfg.ca.gov/keepmewild/ or www.dfg.ca.gov/wolf/.
The Department of Fish and Game has been following the recovery and migration of gray wolves in Western states with the expectation that at some point they will likely reach California.
The available historic information on wolves in California suggests that while they were widely distributed, they were not abundant.
More information about wolves in California can be found at
www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/nongame/wolf/docs/Gray_Wolf_Report_2012.pdf.