New Gray Wolf Pack Confirmed in Tulare County
California has a new gray wolf pack in Sequoia National Forest lands in Tulare County, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) announced today. This is the Golden State’s southernmost pack and it is at least 200 air miles from the nearest known pack in northeastern California.
In July, CDFW received a wolf sighting report from a location in the Sequoia National Forest. CDFW investigated the reported location, found wolf tracks and other signs of wolf presence, and collected 12 scat and hair samples from the immediate area for genetic testing. CDFW’s Wildlife Forensics Laboratory performed DNA analysis to determine if the samples were from wolf, as well as sex, coat color, individual identity, relation to one another and pack origin. All 12 samples were confirmed gray wolf. The new pack consists of at least five individuals not previously detected in California, including one adult female, who is a direct descendant of California’s first documented wolf in the state in recent history, (OR7), and four offspring (two females, two males). None of the samples collected came from an adult male, however the genetic profile from the offspring indicate that the breeding male is a descendant of the Lassen Pack.
Gray wolves are native to California but were extirpated in the state by the 1920s. In late 2011, OR7 crossed the state line to become the first wolf in nearly a century to make California part of his range before returning to Oregon to form the Rogue Pack.
In 2021 another lone wolf traveled the Sierra and eventually was found dead in Kern county. This new Pack is assumed to have been a branch off the Lassen / Shasta Packs of Northern California.
Wolves are protected under California’s Endangered Species Act and are federally protected in California under the federal Endangered Species Act. It is illegal to intentionally kill or harm wolves in the state. For more information and to report potential sightings, please visit CDFW’s Gray Wolf Program webpage at wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Mammals/Gray-Wolf.
Photos courtesy of Michelle Harris, Samantha Winiecki-Love, Ryan Slezak and Colibri Ecological Consulting, which is one group among numerous groups that reported sightings on the wolf pack.
