GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) — State biologists are busy trapping the growing wolf population in northeastern Oregon and fitting them with tracking collars.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife says that so far in May, two males have been fitted with GPS collars to give daily satellite position reports like the ones that chronicled OR-7’s incredible journey from northeastern Oregon into Northern California in search of a mate.
Oregon’s wolf population has grown to at least 65 since the species was reintroduced into the Northern Rockies in the 1990s.
Department spokeswoman Michelle Dennehy says most young dispersing wolves have gone east to Idaho.
But some go west. OR-7 and a female are now living in the Cascades east of Medford, and a wolf track was confirmed last winter on the flanks of Mount Hood.