Lone gray wolf sighted in Siskiyou County

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced today that wildlife biologists have been tracking a gray wolf that has likely dispersed from Oregon into Siskiyou County in northern California.

State wildlife officials say they believe a gray wolf has been roaming the wilds near the California-Oregon border. “Wolves are proving what scientists have said all along – that California has great habitat for wolves”.

If further investigation reveals the animal to be a gray wolf, it would be the fist time in a year that a wolf has been sighted in the state.

In early May, CDFW got photos of what appeared to be a large, dark-colored lone wolf.

In early May, images from those cameras showed a large, dark, single animal.

Following up on citizen sightings of a lone, dark-colored canid, agency staff obtained photographic images from a trail camera and spotted fresh tracks, indications that California is now home to its second wolf in almost a century.

Biologists will be putting out out more cameras and collecting scat in the hopes of getting DNA evidence to officially determine whether the animals is a wolf through DNA.

Because of these protections, it’s illegal to harass or kill wolves in California.

In recent years, wandering wolf OR-7 -named for the tag it received when captured and collared by Oregon biologists – was made famous for several trips into the California. Grey wolves can wander hundreds of miles in their search to find new packs and mates and carve out new territories.

“It’s critical they have as many legal protections as possible”, said Amaroq Weiss, a West Coast wolf organizer for the Center for Biological Diversity, which advocated for the change in status in California.

Wolves were placed on the state’s endangered species list previous year. Under California law, it is the policy of the state to conserve, protect, enhance and restore any state-listed species. The state is close to releasing a draft wolf management for public comment.