Lone wolf makes rare appearance in California county far beyond known packs

A lone wolf was spotted 150 miles north of San Francisco, farther west than any of the pack animals have been documented in the state.

The black-coated gray wolf was spotted traveling in the “very northern” portion of Lake County in the Mendocino National Forest, Lake County District 4 Supervisor Brad Rasmussen said in a post on social media.

The unusual sighting happened near the end of August and was confirmed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the post added.

“Currently CDFW believes this to be a single, dispersing wolf, which may already have left the county or is traveling large distances,” Rasmussen wrote.

The gray wolf, classified as an endangered species in California, once roamed the state before eradication campaigns tied to livestock protection wiped them out by the early 1900s.

Starting in 2011, the gray wolf started showing up again after officials believe it started crossing into the state from Oregon.

Wildlife officials said there’s around 60 of them in the state, with nine confirmed packs, all in the very northern part of California.

The packs are located in places like eastern Shasta County, Tehama, Lassen, and Plumas counties, according to the website. The animals also been wolf activity in Modoc and Sierra counties.

In a post on social media, the CDFW posted a photo of a gray wolf and said that the young wolves “can travel hundreds of miles while searching for new territory or a mate.”

“Right now, in California, while most wolf packs are in the northern part of the state, there are likely a number of individual wolves in other parts of the state that have dispersed from those packs, or from adjacent states.”

The social media post also pointed out this “long distance journey” is a natural part of the animal’s ecology and said several wolves “from California are known to have dispersed to Oregon.”

There’s also “likely an unknown number of individual wolves” in the state, per the website.

Wildlife officials said they continue to monitor the wolf population, working with “communities and develop management strategies as wolves establish themselves.”

There are currently no known wolf packs in the Southern region of the state.

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