Shasta Pack
Template:Prod llm/dated The Shasta Pack was a gray wolf (Canis lupus) pack that inhabited Siskiyou County in far Northern California, just south of the Oregon–California border. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) confirmed the pack in August 2015, making it the first resident wolf pack documented in California in more than a century.[1]
The pack's founding adults migrated from southern Oregon. The alpha female was a sibling of OR-7, both born to the same Oregon wolf pack; five pups were documented in the spring of 2015, establishing the group as a breeding unit.[2][1]
Pack members were observed eating a calf in November 2015, an incident biologists described as possibly the first modern wolf predation of livestock in California.[3] A pup from the 2015 litter was detected in northwestern Nevada in 2016, the first wolf confirmed in that state in nearly a century.[4] The pack subsequently disappeared under unexplained circumstances; by July 2020, the Lassen Pack was the only known wolf pack in California.[5]
Background
OR-7, a male gray wolf from northeastern Oregon, crossed the Oregon–California border in December 2011, becoming the first gray wolf confirmed in California since 1924.[6] He roamed northern California for two years before returning to Oregon. The Shasta Pack's alpha female was born to the same Oregon pack as OR-7, the two wolves being siblings.[2]
Confirmation and early history (2015)
CDFW confirmed the pack in Siskiyou County in August 2015 from trail camera footage, establishing it as the first resident wolf pack in California in more than a century.[1] The two founding adults had migrated into California from southern Oregon.[1] Five pups were documented in the spring of 2015.[1]
In November 2015, pack members were observed eating a calf — an incident biologists described as possibly the first modern predation of livestock by wolves in California. Biologists noted that wolves are primarily scavengers and will feed on cattle that have died of other causes.[3]
Dispersal (2016)
A wolf from the pack's 2015 litter was detected in northwestern Nevada in 2016, becoming the first wolf verified in that state in nearly 100 years.[4][7]
Disappearance
The Shasta Pack was not detected after 2016. By July 2020, the Lassen Pack—confirmed in Lassen County in fall 2016—was described in news coverage as California's only known wolf pack, indicating the Shasta Pack was no longer extant.[5] CDFW did not publicly identify the cause of the pack's disappearance.
Territory
The Shasta Pack occupied territory in Siskiyou County, just south of the Oregon–California border.[1] The pack's range overlapped the ancestral territory of the Karuk Tribe, whose traditional lands extend across the Klamath River region of Siskiyou County.[8]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 House, Kelly (August 20, 2015). "California Has Its First Wolf Pack in More Than 100 Years". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on August 23, 2015. Retrieved August 23, 2015 – via Oregon Live. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 2.0 2.1 "We Know a Little More About California's Wolves' Family Tree". PBS SoCal. October 23, 2015. Retrieved July 27, 2024.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Fimrite, Peter (May 9, 2018). "Wolves in Northern California aren't just loping through anymore; they're here to stay". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Staff/NDOT Release (March 24, 2017). "Wolf sighting confirmed in northwestern Nevada". KOLO News. Retrieved March 5, 2021.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Maxouris, Christina (July 29, 2020). "In California's only known wolf pack, there are now at least 8 new pups". CNN. Retrieved August 6, 2020.
- ↑ Urness, Zach (April 19, 2020). "OR-7, the most famous wolf in the West, represented promise and peril of grey wolves in Oregon". Salem Statesman Journal. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
- ↑ Dowd, Katie (March 2, 2021). "For first time in over 100 years, a wolf is seen near Yosemite". SFGate. Retrieved March 5, 2021.
- ↑ "California Wolf Conservation and Management Plan". California Department of Fish and Wildlife. 2016. Retrieved May 18, 2026.
External links
- Gray Wolf, California Department of Fish and Wildlife
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