Lone gray wolf, miles from its pack, findsnew territory and a mate

This remote camera photo taken May 3, 2014, and provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, shows the wolf OR7 in

southwestern Oregon’s Cascade Mountains. Oregon's famous wandering wolf may have found the mate he has trekked

thousands of miles looking for. Photo: AP Photo/USFWS

Hollywood publicists couldn’t have planned it better.

Just in time for the world premiere of a documentary about a gray wolf who trekked from

Oregon to California in 2011, comes big news from wildlife officials.

The endangered young wolf who splits his time between the two states has probably found

a partner, after a search that spanned thousands of miles. There’s also a chance that the

wolf, known as OR7, might be a dad.

If biologists are right, the wolf and his mystery mate would be the first known wolves to

breed in the Oregon Cascades since the early 20th century. That has sparked hope

among wolf lovers that the species could take hold again in California. The state has had

no known wolf presence for nearly 100 years.

By Los Angeles Times, adapted by Newsela staff on 05.21.14

Word Count 835

A Long Way From Home

“OR7 is over 250 miles from the nearest known wolf pack,” said John Stephenson, a wolf

biologist from Oregon who has been monitoring the animal. “It always seemed like a real

long shot that he’d find a female wolf in that area. There aren’t any.

“We don’t know where this female came from,” Stephenson said. “It’s exciting that a female

would find him way down there so far away from where the wolves are.”

Wildlife officials readily acknowledge that no single animal arouses as much passion as the

wolf. Managing wolves has been hugely controversial. Wolf lovers tout the ecosystem

benefits of returning top predators to the wild, while livestock interests and big-game

hunters blame the creatures for destroying sheep, cattle and elk herds.

OR7 is a living embodiment of the mythic lone wolf. He first burst upon the national stage

three years ago, when he left his pack in northeastern Oregon and set out to find territory

and a mate to call his own.

His travels took him to California’s Siskiyou County late in 2011, making him the first gray

wolf documented in the state since 1924. Biologists followed the creature with a tracking

collar as he traveled about 3,000 miles after leaving his pack.

OR7 trekked back and forth between Oregon and California over the next few years. But

recently the wolf’s behavior changed and he began to exhibit what biologists call

“denning” or “localizing,” spending his time in a relatively small area in southwestern

Oregon.

The Lone Wolf Is Not So Lonely

“We were curious,” Stephenson said. “His collar is getting old. It’s over three years, and

three years is the lifespan of those collars. We’d been getting a lot of questions about

whether we would re-collar him. We weren’t going to. He’s a lone wolf. There’s only so

much information you can get.”

But with his new habits, the scientists decided to make one last effort “before the collar

went out to see if he had found anybody,” Stephenson said. “I put some cameras out. I’m

glad we did. I’m still very surprised by it. It’s pretty cool.”

The cameras were placed around the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest in April. This

month, they captured photographs of a black wolf squatting to urinate.

The wolf also had a slender face and a narrow space between its ears, said wolf biologist

Russ Morgan.

That meant she was a girl. But was she a girlfriend?

The two wolves had never been photographed together, which made it hard to be sure.

But on May 3, biologists caught a break. At 6:30 a.m., OR7 was photographed walking by

one of the remote cameras. An hour later, the female ran past the same spot.

“They’re in the same area,” Stephenson said. “They certainly know about each other ... It’s

very likely they’ve paired up.”

Keeping Watch For Wolf Pups

Gray wolves tend to mate in late January and early February, and pups are born in April.

Biologists do not plan to check on what could be southwestern Oregon’s first wolf pack in

nearly a century until the pups are older and beginning to leave the den.

Wolves are native to Oregon, but the last known example of the species was killed in the

mid-1940s as part of a government-sponsored predator control program, said Elizabeth

Materna, spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. They also historically ranged

widely in California.

The gray wolf was listed as federally endangered (https://www.newsela.com/?

tag=endangered+species) in 1973.

Now, with wolf packs solidly re-established and widely ranging in the West, state wildlife

officials say it is likely California will be home to a number of wolves within 10 years.

California is debating how it will manage that wolf population.

Wildlife officials want OR7’s possible pups to remain undisturbed for at least another

month.

But nature lovers curious about the pups’ famous father can head to the Hollywood

Theater in Portland, Oregon, on May 25 for the photogenic wolf’s starring role in the

documentary "OR7 - The Journey".

“If this pair does breed, in a decade there could be wolves recolonizing habitat in Northern

California," said Steve Pedery, conservation director of a group called Oregon Wild. "He’s

certainly been there and checked it out.”

Quiz

1 Read the following sentence from the article.

The endangered young wolf who splits his time between the two states

has probably found a partner, after a search that spanned thousands

of miles.

The word "endangered" means:

(A) threatened

(B) secured

(C) protected

(D) shielded

2 From the section "Keeping Watch For Wolf Pup," select the paragraph that indicates an

expansion of the gray wolf.

3 Which sentence describes what Stephenson believes will happen between the gray wolf and

his mate?

(A) He believes the gray wolf will began to look like its mate.

(B) He believes the gray wolf and female wolf will pair up and mate.

(C) He believes the gray wolf will move to Oregon for 10 years.

(D) He believes the gray wolf will no longer seek a female mate.

4 Read the sentence from the section "A Long Way Home."

Wildlife officials readily acknowledge that no single animal arouses as

much passion as the wolf.

Which is the BEST synonym for the word "arouses"?

(A) calms

(B) halts

(C) provokes

(D) ceases