Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Wolf Lovers Fear Worst After OR-93's Radio Collar Goes Dark
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 4 years ago on
May 25, 2021

Share

SAN FRANCISCO — An adventurous young gray wolf that crossed into California from Oregon has not been documented since early April, spurring speculation that he may be dead.

Wildlife officials who track OR-93 through his radio collar said he stopped emitting “pings” April 5 in San Luis Obispo County, which is roughly midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. But officials also have not picked up a “mortality signal” from the 2-year-old’s collar, which indicates when a wolf has not moved for at least eight hours, the Los Angeles Times reported over the weekend.

The wolf’s radio collar could be broken or malfunctioning due to dead batteries, said Jordan Traverso, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. He may be dead or running wild with a Central Coast pack that no one knew existed, she said.

“We’re trying to keep hope alive,” she told the news publication.

Biologists Hopeful OR-93 Still Alive

Biologists in Oregon fitted OR-93 with a GPS tracking collar in June, near the Portland area where he was born. He left the pack and crossed into California, padding south to an agricultural area near Fresno before heading west to the Central Coast. That the gray wolf made it so far was remarkable given that he had to cross three busy highways, wildlife experts said.

State biologists in Oregon and California said they plan to fly over his path with hopes of picking up his signal.

Millions of wolves thrived throughout North America until the 19th and 20th centuries, when they were eradicated by government. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed the gray wolf from the federal endangered species list after determining the overall population was stable.

There are an estimated 6,000 wolves living in the lower 48 states of the U.S. Fewer than a dozen wolves live in Northern California.

Recent claims of OR-93 sightings, including blurry, far-off photos of grayish dog-like creatures and of “wolfish” looking paw prints in wet sand give hope that he has survived. Beth Pratt, California regional executive director for the National Wildlife Federation, certainly hopes so.

“The ultimate Hollywood ending of this mystery,” she added, “would be for OR-93 to settle down with a surfer girl canine in Malibu and raise a pack of cute pups.”

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Thousands of Pilgrims Trek Through New Mexico Desert to Historic Adobe Church for Good Friday

DON'T MISS

Rams’ Draft Headquarters to Be at LAFD Air Base to Honor First Responders to Wildfires

DON'T MISS

The US Has a Single Rare Earths Mine. Chinese Export Limits Are Energizing a Push for More

DON'T MISS

A Startling Admission From a GOP Senator: ‘We Are All Afraid’

DON'T MISS

Trump Administration Kicks off Plan for Expanded Offshore Drilling

DON'T MISS

Google to Appeal Against Part of US Court’s Decision in Monopoly Case

DON'T MISS

How to Catch the Shooting Stars of Spring’s First Meteor Shower, the Lyrids

DON'T MISS

US Intel Contradicts Trump Claims Linking Gang to Venezuelan Government

DON'T MISS

NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft Is Speeding Toward Another Close Encounter With an Asteroid

DON'T MISS

The Abrego Garcia Case Pulls Democrats Into the Immigration Debate Trump Wants to Have

UP NEXT

Supreme Court to Hear Arguments on Trump Plan to End Birthright Citizenship

UP NEXT

Popular AIs Head-to-Head: OpenAI Beats DeepSeek on Sentence-Level Reasoning

UP NEXT

Al Sharpton Calls Meeting With Target’s CEO Amid DEI Backlash ‘Very Constructive and Candid’

UP NEXT

Former Pentagon Spokesman Tied to Online DEI Purge Was Asked to Resign

UP NEXT

The Kings Agree to Hire Scott Perry as General Manager, AP Source Says

UP NEXT

LA’s Schools Chief Knows What It’s Like to Be Undocumented

UP NEXT

Shooting at Florida State Sends Students Running; Nearby Hospital Says It’s Treating People

UP NEXT

Valero Books $1.1 Billion Impairment, May Idle California Refinery

UP NEXT

Ursula Is Beautiful, Athletic, and Seeking Your Companionship

UP NEXT

Actor Michelle Trachtenberg Died of Complications From Diabetes, Says NYC Medical Examiner

A Startling Admission From a GOP Senator: ‘We Are All Afraid’

10 minutes ago

Trump Administration Kicks off Plan for Expanded Offshore Drilling

13 minutes ago

Google to Appeal Against Part of US Court’s Decision in Monopoly Case

16 minutes ago

How to Catch the Shooting Stars of Spring’s First Meteor Shower, the Lyrids

19 minutes ago

US Intel Contradicts Trump Claims Linking Gang to Venezuelan Government

23 minutes ago

NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft Is Speeding Toward Another Close Encounter With an Asteroid

32 minutes ago

The Abrego Garcia Case Pulls Democrats Into the Immigration Debate Trump Wants to Have

40 minutes ago

Katy Perry Gears Up for Sci-Fi Inspired World Tour

45 minutes ago

10,000 Pages of Records About Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 Assassination Are Released

51 minutes ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Tien Hoang Nguyen

54 minutes ago

Thousands of Pilgrims Trek Through New Mexico Desert to Historic Adobe Church for Good Friday

SANTA FE, N.M. — A unique Holy Week tradition is drawing thousands of Catholic pilgrims to a small adobe church in the hills of northern New...

1 minute ago

1 minute ago

Thousands of Pilgrims Trek Through New Mexico Desert to Historic Adobe Church for Good Friday

5 minutes ago

Rams’ Draft Headquarters to Be at LAFD Air Base to Honor First Responders to Wildfires

10 minutes ago

The US Has a Single Rare Earths Mine. Chinese Export Limits Are Energizing a Push for More

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) walks out of the Senate chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb. 20, 2025. Murkowski, who has routinely broken with her party to criticize President Donald Trump, has made a startling admission about the reality of serving in public office at a time when an unbound leader in the Oval Office is bent on retribution against his political foes. (Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times)
10 minutes ago

A Startling Admission From a GOP Senator: ‘We Are All Afraid’

President Donald Trump looks on on the day he signs executive orders in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 17, 2025. (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)
13 minutes ago

Trump Administration Kicks off Plan for Expanded Offshore Drilling

16 minutes ago

Google to Appeal Against Part of US Court’s Decision in Monopoly Case

19 minutes ago

How to Catch the Shooting Stars of Spring’s First Meteor Shower, the Lyrids

23 minutes ago

US Intel Contradicts Trump Claims Linking Gang to Venezuelan Government

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend