California officials said Wednesday that a grey wolf, who made it further south than any other known member of its species, died in an apparent vehicle collision.
The gray wolf is near the park in California.
The Associated Press.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife said a wolf was found dead near an interstate in rural Kern County, California, about 60 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
OR-93 was separated from its pack in northern Oregon in the middle of the year, and first appeared in northern California in January.
OR-93 made it to San Luis Obispo County by April, and while the electronic tracking collar that monitored his journey stopped sending new data almost six months ago, the state has seen occasional occurrences in San Luis Obispo and other counties north of Los Angeles.
Grey wolves are native to California, but experts say they have largely disappeared from the state due to hunting. In the last decade, wolves from other states have occasionally separated from their packs and gone into northern California, where they enjoy protections for their species and hunting is not allowed. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife says there are at least three breeding packs of wolves in rugged northern parts of the state.
Since 2008, the federal government has gradually lifted protections for grey wolves. The grey wolves were removed from the list. Administration officials argued the grey wolf population has recovered dramatically after four decades of federal protection, and farming and ranching groups said the change would allow for more flexibility to prevent wolves from killing livestock. Grey wolf populations are too fragile to go without protection. The policy was reviewed in September by the Biden Administration.
The Center for Biological Diversity's senior wolf advocate said in a statement that the California journey was a beacon of hope in a time when other states were killing wolves by the hundreds. He was searching for a mate on his own.
