A gray wolf has been spotted in the Santa Clarita Valley, representing the first confirmed sighting in Los Angeles County in over a hundred years.
The wolf, a three-year-old female referred to by biologists as BEY03F, was observed in the mountains north of Santa Clarita early Saturday, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Just hours before, she had been moving south through Kern County, highlighting the lengthy journey that led her to Southern California.
Wildlife officials are monitoring the wolf’s location with a GPS collar placed on her last spring while she was with the Yowlumni Pack in Tulare County. The Times reported that BEY03F left that area roughly a week ago and has kept moving southward since then.
Axel Hunnicutt, gray wolf coordinator for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, informed the Times that the wolf’s journey is still ongoing.
“Her journey isn’t complete,” Hunnicutt noted, adding that her continuing movement indicates she has not yet found a mate or established herself in a suitable habitat.
Born in 2023 in Plumas County’s Beyem Seyo Pack, BEY03F has traveled over 370 miles heading south, as state officials report. Her route has involved crossing State Route 59 near Tehachapi multiple times in recent days before entering Los Angeles County.
The sighting is viewed as a significant achievement in California’s efforts to restore the wolf population. John Marchwick of California Wolf Watch remarked to the Times that the presence of a wolf in the area marks “a historic moment in the return of wolves to California,” attributing the success to endangered-species protections and current monitoring programs that allow tracking her movements.
Gray wolves were driven out of California almost a century ago due to hunting and trapping, with the last known wild wolf in the state killed in 1924. The species began its comeback in 2011, when a lone wolf made its way into California from Oregon. Wildlife officials now estimate that at least 60 wolves inhabit the state.
As of Sunday morning, BEY03F was believed to be moving through the San Gabriel Mountains, a region currently without any established wolf packs. Biologists informed the Times that she could find a mate in nearby areas like the Tehachapi Mountains and potentially form a new pack or continue her journey north along the Sierra Nevada.
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