California without wolves again as OR7 returns to Oregon

California is without wild wolves again as the famous male gray wolf known as OR7 has returned to his home state of Oregon.

Oregon's Department of Fish and Wildlife reports that OR7, which first entered California on Dec. 28, 2011, crossed the state border  on Tuesday evening. He entered via southwest Klamath County, Oregon.

This marks the second time OR7 has returned to Oregon, the other being a brief visit two months after he became California's first recorded wild wolf in nearly 90 years.

(See our story from last week, implying that OR7 might be headed back to Oregon.)

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife had been issuing daily position reports obtained via OR7's GPS collar unit, but will no longer do so unless the wolf returns to California.

The ODFW will not post daily location information, but will keep track of OR7's whereabouts.

Presumably, the wolf has been on a long and fruitless search for a mate. Perhaps his fortune will change in Oregon, which boasts an estimated minimum wolf population of 53, including seven packs and at least five breeding pairs.



OR7 hails from the Imnaha pack  in northeast Oregon. His first entry into California was via Siskiyou County.

--Pete Thomas

--Image captured by Richard Shinn of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife is the only known color photograph of OR7. The wolf was in Modoc County at the time (last May)

Comments

[Leigh Blake]

I'm hoping that OR7 is going to survive, but Wildlife Management might consider moving a female from one of the northern packs to his location. Hopefully he'll stay away from Klamath ranchers.

[John Wall]

He's gotten a nice lay of the land down here, should he find a mate interested in more southern climes....