A wolf that captured national attention when it entered Los Angeles County earlier this year continues to make history.
The black-haired 3-year-old female entered Inyo County at 7 a.m. Sunday, about 20 miles south of Mount Whitney. According to state wildlife officials, she became the first documented wolf to set claws in eastern Sierra County in more than a century.
By Monday afternoon, she was deep into the county west of the community of Bartlett, said Axel Honeycutt, gray wolf coordinator for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. His movements are tracked with a GPS collar.
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The wolf – known as BEY03F – essentially crossed the Sierra Nevada over a period of three to four days, a feat Honeycutt believes was made possible by low snowfall this season.
“She was able to cross fairly hilly terrain surprisingly quickly,” he said. “I don’t think I would have been able to do that in three days.”
The nearly 60-mile journey adds to hundreds of miles already covered from his birthplace in Plumas County, in the far northeastern corner of California.
She has lived in at least 12 counties and probably driven more than 1,000 miles in her lifetime — crossing dangerous freeways several times, Honeycutt said.
So what is BEY03F up to now? Experts say that he is probably still looking for a partner.
That’s what first brought him to Los Angeles County on Feb. 7. The breeding season runs from mid to late winter, and wolves are fertile only once a year – right around Valentine’s Day. So even if she finds a husband, puppies won’t be in the cards this year.
Born in the Bayem Seyo pack, she arrived at the Yovalumni pack in Tulare County, where she was collared in May. (She left her birth pack before becoming notorious for an unprecedented number of livestock attacks.)
She didn’t stay in LA long. Within two days of her arrival, she returned to Kern County. She soon returned to the Yovalumni area in the southern Sierra, where she spent several weeks.
“Probably what we’re seeing is that she’s like, ‘Okay, I haven’t bred this year, but I still need to find a mate,'” Honeycutt said. “So she will continue to travel.”
It’s possible she may be pregnant and roaming, although this scenario is “less likely,” Honeycutt said. Pregnancy suggests that something unusual has happened, such as she was about to give birth and her partner died or moved away. Wolves begin giving birth around mid-April, and they are largely monogamous.
John Marchwick of the educational group said BEY03F’s visit is “a good educational opportunity for people to learn what a dispersing wolf is” – that is, one that makes one-way, unpredictable movements in search of mates and territory. California Wolf Watch. “And it’s great to see that she’s doing it in a historical context that’s making more people care about wolves.”
California’s wolves continue to thrive, a stunning turnaround of fortunes for the apex predator, which was wiped out by hunters and trappers nearly a century ago. The last known wild wolf in the state at that time was shot in Lassen County in 1924.
Endangered canids did not return until 2011, when a wolf arrived in the state from Oregon. He did not stay, but his arrival sealed his return, today 50 to 75 people are roaming in the state.
Nevertheless, they have not returned to all their previous bases. Honeycutt said there have been reports of wolves in Inyo County since the animals returned, but none of those reports have been confirmed.
Although conservationists consider the resurgence a success, crediting state and federal protections, some ranchers are concerned. Wolves that eat livestock cut into ranchers’ bottom line.
A Recent study from UC Cooperative Extension The economic damage from attacks by the Bayam Seyo pack on cattle reached at least $2.6 million in seven months last year, a figure that includes the loss of livestock and interventions aimed at preventing poaching.
The state’s wolf tracker shows BEY03F’s last known location in Inyo County as of Monday.
(California Department of Fish and Wildlife)
On Monday, the state alerted officials in Inyo County that BEY093 was in the city.
This is done every time a wolf first enters a new county to “prompt people to take non-lethal measures, or at least start thinking about preparing for wolves potentially coming to their area,” Hunnicutt said.
BEY093 is now in Owens Valley, a place rich in livestock and elk — potentially “a good place for other wolves to live,” he said.
She might just find one and settle down.
