Image courtesy of OregonLive.com

If you’ve been interested in the status of wolves in Oregon since they were delisted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2010 you’re not alone – in fact, the wildlife conservation news website The Wildlife News has an entire category dedicated to Oregon wolf news updates, which can be found here: http://www.thewildlifenews.com/category/wolves/oregon-wolves/. At the end of 2011 the population of wolves known to be living in Oregon had grown slightly to 25 animals, mostly within the NE corner of the state. This area is not known for being welcoming of the increased presence of these residents, who migrated in from Idaho and only began establishing stable packs in Oregon in 2007 (see the article by Dr. Ralph Maughan, professor emeritus at Idaho State University, for full details: http://www.thewildlifenews.com/2011/12/28/at-years-end-25-wolves-in-oregon/).

Oregon wolves have been making waves in national news as well due to their meandering ways. A young adult male wolf has traveled nearly 1,000 miles from NE Oregon, past Bend and Ashland into the Lassen/Mt. Shasta area. Formerly known as “OR-7” this wolf has been dubbed “Journey” through a naming contest hosted by Oregon Wild, and his dispersal into California in search of a mate has been compared to the classic search for love and emotion described by the song ‘Don’t Stop Believing” on national news! You can read more and see the NBC nightly news video about Journey on the Oregon Wild website here: http://www.oregonwild.org/about/blog/don-t-stop-believin/

For updates and to follow recent locations of Journey you can visit the ‘Journey the Wolf’ facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Journey-the-Wolf/319506348089407

The photo was taken on November 14, 2011, by a game camera set up by Allen Daniels in Butte Falls, Oregon. Courtesy of the 'Journey the Wolf' facebook page.