Say It Ain't So Already

Trekking Wolf 10 Miles North of California Border

December 29, 2011 at 2:22 PM Leave a comment

This is a cool story:

B-300, the mother of OR7, gets used to its new radio collar after it was attached in northeast Oregon in July 2009. Like her son OR7, which may become California's first wild wolf in nearly a century, B-300 is something of a pioneer. In 2008, she became the first wolf to return to Oregon, migrating there from Idaho. Photo: Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

The wandering wolf that crossed the entire state of Oregon this fall is on the move again – and now even closer to California.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife on Wednesday reported that the wolf known as OR7 is now south of Keno, Ore., a town less than 10 miles from the California border along Highway 97. If OR7 keeps moving south, he could become the first gray wolf confirmed in California in more than 90 years.

“There is no way to predict if OR7 will actually cross into California,” Michelle Dennehy, a spokeswoman for the Oregon wildlife agency, said via email. “He could very well turn around and go right back to where he has been spending time in Klamath and Jackson counties the last month or so, or even back to northeast Oregon.”

The 2-year-old male wolf migrated 730 miles across Oregon over two months beginning in September. He had spent the past month in an area of the Siskiyou National Forest, northeast of Medford.

Given the mother’s history (see photo caption), OR7 seems to come from an exceptional family. I wish him luck and continued cunning and I hope he lives a long, happy life.  Fingers crossed.

Entry filed under: Animals (Other Than Us). Tags: siskiyou national forest, wild wolf.