California’s first wolf pack found in Siskiyou County

The two adult wolves seen in trail photos are black in color. Namely “Additional remote cameras have been deployed and CDFW wildlife biologists will return to the location in an attempt to find scat for subsequent DNA analysis to conclusively confirm whether or not this animal is a gray wolf”. The terrain is described as a mix of forest, fields and rangeland.

“This news is exciting for California”, Charlton H. Bonham, CDFW director said on the agency’s website.

Those wolves eventually migrated into Oregon and Washington before reaching California and are protected by federal and state endangered species acts. Officials learned of their existence thanks to cameras posted in remote parts of Siskiyou County near Mount Shasta, which snapped images of the pups and adults, the statement said. The department is awaiting the results of a DNA analysis to better determine the animals’ lineage, and it plans to place a tracking collar on at least one of the adults.

Wild wolves historically inhabited California, but were wiped out.

The presence of pups makes this group of wolves California’s first resident pack in more than a century. The gray wolf OR-7, who made global headlines when he traipsed across the state line from Oregon in 2011, hasn’t been in California for more than a year.

In June 2014, the California Fish and Game Commission voted to list gray wolves as endangered under the California Endangered Species Act.

With wolves now officially established in California, the state is likely to face conflicts similar to the ones Oregon experienced after wolves established territory to Wallowa County in 2008.

The department hopes to move up the date of its draft wolf management plan, now scheduled to be released by the end of the year.

It is illegal to “harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture or collect” wolves in California, the state wildlife department said.

Fish and Wildlife officials said the wolves do not pose a public safety threat.