A rare gray wolf has found its way to Southern California for the first time in nearly a century.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife said Friday it received three reports in September that a wolf wearing a purple tracking collar had been sighted in the northern reaches of Ventura County.
Officials have since been able to confirm wolf tracks in the area. Witness’ descriptions match that of a young male that was fitted with a tracking color by federal wildlife officials in Oregon in June of last year.
The endangered canine, known as OR-93, was speculated to have traveled at least 1,000 miles from Oregon to California’s Central Coast before his tracking collar stopped emitting a signal in the spring.
OR-93’s arrival in Ventura marks “the farthest south in California that any gray wolf has been documented since one was captured in San Bernardino County in 1922,” the Fish and Wildlife Department said in its statement.
Wildlife officers may try to catch and re-collar OR-93 if possible to continue tracking his movements.
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