Lone wolf a symbol of hope for species

The wandering animal crossed much of Oregon and could reach California

By Tracie Cone

The Associated Press

Published: (Sunday, Dec 25, 2011) 

A young gray wolf has become a local media darling after meandering hundreds of miles into historic new territory in southwest Oregon, but his presence now within a two-day jaunt of the California border has even more significance in the Golden State.

If the juvenile’s wanderlust continues southward, experts say he could start the repopulation of a vanished species in California, where threatened and endangered species historically have relied on the help of man.

“I can’t think of another species that was completely extirpated in California that has returned,” said Michael Stopher, who has been monitoring the wolf for the California Department of Fish and Game. “As a scientist, seeing the possible restoration of our historic mega fauna thrills me.”

Gray wolves are much bigger than coyotes and are the ancestors of domestic dogs. They stand three-feet at the shoulder with massive heads, a bite powerful enough to snap a bone, and paws up to six-inches wide.

The last gray wolf in California was killed in 1924 about 50 miles from the Oregon border by a trapper intent on making the West safe for cattle. Livestock ranchers are watching warily this lone wolf’s progress too.

“There’s going to be a lot of pressure elsewhere before it gets here,” said Billy Flournoy, 70, whose family has been ranching in Modoc County on the state’s northern border since 1871. “We’ll have more problems with coyotes and mountain lions. Wolves like bigger prey.”

The story of the wolf known as OR-7 — the seventh affixed with a GPS collar in Oregon — is linked to a decision in 1995 to reintroduce a pack of gray wolves from Canada into Idaho and areas around Yellowstone National Park​.

The wolves were protected from hunters by the Endangered Species Act and multiplied beyond anyone’s dreams. In 1999 wolves migrated into Oregon, which state officials say now has 24 in the northeastern corner that abuts Idaho and Washington State.

Typically only the alpha male and alpha females breed, though the others share pup-rearing duties. In September, OR-7 set out on his big adventure, and a satellite has recorded every move.

“He went out looking for girls, that’s how I like to put it,” Stopher said.

In three months, he has zigzagged for 730 miles across the Blue Mountains and high desert plains, killing at least one elk along the way. He ended up outside of Medford on Mt. McLaughlin in the Cascades, 300 crow-fly miles away from home.

“If he climbed high enough, he would have been able to see Mt. Shasta” in California, said Stopher.

That’s as close as he has come so far, though Stopher, the department’s environmental program manager, has been preparing for years for the possible migration of wolves into California.

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