The California Department of Fish and Game reports that a gray wolf from Oregon, named OR7, remains inside the state and that a website has been established to post updates on the predator's status.
"At this time, there is only one documented gray wolf living in the wild in California," states a passage on the website.
OR7, a young male wolf originally from a pack in northeast Oregon, made headlines during a zig-zagging adventure that spanned across the Cascades and ultimately into eastern Lassen County in Northern California.
The wolf, which was fitted with a GPS collar before he left the pack, is the first known wild wolf to have ranged in the Golden State in nearly 90 years. The last one was killed by a trapper in 1924.
The only known probable photograph of OR7 is a black-and-white trail-camera image captured in Butte County, in Southern Oregon, last Nov. 1 (top right).
The presence of OR7 and the possibility of other wolves entering California has farmers and ranchers worried, because wolves are notorious for livestock predation in some areas in western states where they've flourished since recently being reintroduced.
The California DFG is formulating a wolf policy in case other wolves return to California and what was once prime wolf habitat.
OR7 and other gray wolves that might enter California are protected under the Endangered Species Act and the DFG will post only general information regarding OR7's whereabouts.
In a news release, the DFG states that many reported sightings of gray wolves in California have been investigated in recent years, but most of those turned out to involve coyotes or dogs.
The DFG adds that wolves pose little threat to humans. "Concerns about human safety are largely based on folklore and are unsubstantiated," the news release states. "In recent years there was one human mortality in Canada caused either by wolves or bears and one confirmed human mortality in Alaska by wolves.
"[But] based on experience from states where substantial wolf populations now exist, wolves pose little risk to humans. However, DFG recommends that people never approach a wolf, or otherwise interact with or feed a wolf."
Farmers and ranchers can reduce the threat of livestock predation "by removing potential sources of food and other attractants from their land, such as discarded animal carcasses, bone piles, etc."
-- Trail-cam image shows what is likely OR7 during his trek through Southern Oregon toward California. DFG website graphic shows OR7's path in California through a period through Jan. 11
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