By Damon Arthur
For a young male simply looking for a mate, OR-7 has generated a lot of media attention lately.
For the past several months, the young wolf has been on a path that looked like he was destined to make history by becoming first wild wolf in California in 87 years.
The 2-year-old gray wolf traveled a zigzag route some 730 miles from northeast Oregon to the southwest part of the state, making history and generating plenty of notoriety along the way. His travels provoked stories in media outlets in Oregon and California and Internet sites such as The Huffington Post and Boston.com.
The stories have stirred public interest in a predator that has long been feared and admired.
“Wolves seem (to) inspire passions at both extremes,” said Dana Michaels, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Fish and Game. Part of what piqued media interest is that it seemed as though OR-7 was headed for the Golden State.
Wildlife advocates are happy the wolf seems to be flourishing and expanding his territory, but hunting and ranching groups are not so happy about the possibility of a new predator in the region.
“It doesn’t surprise me because it is such an unusual event,” Michaels said of the wolf possibly wandering into California.
The last known wolf in California was killed by a trapper in Lassen County in 1924, Michaels said.
But OR-7 has stopped his southward trek and since Nov. 8 has been roaming a 100-square-mile area in Oregon’s Jackson and Klamath counties, both of which border California, said Michelle Dennehy, a spokeswoman for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Wildlife officials keep daily tabs on the wolf through a GPS tracker on its collar, Dennehy said. The wolf could still head south to the California border, she said, but for the past month he hasn’t ventured south of Medford.
OR-7 began his journey Sept. 10, leaving the Imnaha pack in search of a mate.
All young males eventually have to strike out on their own in search of a new mate and territory, Dennehy said.
But why he went so far astray is a mystery to wildlife officials. There may be other wolves in the region, but biologists aren’t sure, she said.
There hasn’t been evidence, such as tracks or droppings, indicating OR-7 is traveling with another wolf, Dennehy said.
Northeast Oregon is home to a total of 24 wolves in five packs. The first wolves arrived in Oregon 12 years ago from Idaho, and OR-7, who was born in Oregon, is the first to travel to western Oregon in more than 60 years.
Mark Stopher, a program manager for the California DFG, said there is a high probability wolves will return to California. But there are obstacles facing OR-7 living in California or continuing to live in southwest Oregon.
There are no female mates for him in California. And compared to Oregon or the Rocky Mountain states, California has very few elk, wolves’ favorite prey, Stopher said.
And as a loner, OR-7 would have a tough time killing an elk or deer, Stopher said, although it wouldn’t be as hard to take down a domestic calf.
And that’s what concerns ranchers like Joe Sammis of Dorris.
“I don’t like the idea of it, but there’s not much we can do about it,” he said of the prospect of a wolf crossing into California. Wolves are a federal endangered species and protected from hunting, he said.
In the past year, coyotes killed two of Sammis’ calves. He hasn’t had any mountain lion kills, he said. Dennehy said there have been 20 confirmed livestock kills in Oregon in the past year.
A new state law passed this year provides ranchers with money for compensation for the loss of cattle, she said. For many years, the nonprofit organization Defenders of Wildlife has offered compensation to ranchers for cattle killed by wolves, she said.
Wolves kill a very small percentage of the millions of cattle raised annually throughout the West, Stopher said.
But he acknowledged when a wolf kills a cow it has a big impact on individual ranchers.
“If you’re a cattle rancher and a wolf kills one of your cattle, then, yeah, it’s a valid concern,” he said.
Attacks on humans are rare, he said. There was a confirmed case of a wolf killing a woman in Alaska last year. But there have been no reported cases of wolves attacking humans in areas where wolves were introduced in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, he said.
Siskiyou County Supervisor Marcia Armstrong said that in 2000 when she was director of the Siskiyou County Farm Bureau and Cattlemen’s Association those organizations brought a resolution to the county Board of Supervisors asking it to approve a resolution opposing the reintroduction of wolves and grizzly bears.
Wolves also would affect deer and elk herds in the county, she said. Officials also are trying to promote Siskiyou County as a destination for bicyclists, both mountain biking and road biking.
Having another predator in the county is not good for any of those, Armstrong said.
California DFG officials say there are no plans to introduce wolves to California.
The Board of Supervisors has asked Stopher to talk to it about what the DFG plans to do if wolves arrive in California.
“This could be devastating on our ranching and farming industry,” Armstrong said.