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As I drove away from the State of Jefferson Wednesday, a lone wolf was making his way south behind me:

For the first time since 1924, a wild wolf is living in California. OR-7, which traveled from northeast Oregon to Southern Oregon this past fall, has entered California. The wolf entered California on Wednesday and is believed to be a few miles south of the Oregon border in Siskiyou County.

http://www.redding.com/news/2011/dec/29/oregon-wolf-enters-california-now-siskiyou-county/
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Edit: updates here--http://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/nongame/wolf/

so very cool!!

He needs a mate.

This particular wolf is a young male from the northeast corner of Oregon where most of the Oregon wolfpacks reside. Known by wildlife biologists as OR-7, he is exhibiting typical dispersal behavior and has covered some serious ground!

http://www.ktvz.com/news/30099824/detail.html

Yep,there are lots of news articles and other sources that have more detail than the OP link. If anyone wants to spend New Year's lost in a debate, wolf re-introduction is a rich topic. IIRC, years ago, it was even a hot topic in an SP thread or two.

Geez, shouldn't ya guys be out drinking or something ? Can't go wrong with watching the ball drop with Justin Bieber and Lady Ga Ga ...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40pTk7HMYFw[/youtube]

Larry nailed my annual New Year's resolution: Do anything other than watch the ball drop. Thanks for the reminders to avoid seeking recent pop singers and not to drink too much.

The comments people make under articles about wolves on news websites can be pretty entertaining, but I managed to get out for a run instead of seeking out more or joining in. Maybe it's just the holidays along with less people sitting bored at work, but the threads around here seem to be going in a less controversial debate-like direction lately, at least when I have happened to pop in.

This one from three decades ago goes out to those feeling like wolves. Stay hungry in 2012!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOg5VxrRTi0[/youtube]

BTW, Duran Duran began 1983 by playing the MTV New Year's Eve Rock 'n' Roll Ball, but in 1981, somehow managed to make an Off-Route version of one of their first videos that didn't quite make it onto that fledgling cable channel in original form.

SeanReedy wrote:
Maybe it's just the holidays along with less people sitting bored at work, but the threads around here seem to be going in a less controversial debate-like direction lately, at least when I have happened to pop in.

Interesting observation, Sean. Over the years since joining, and probably even more so before I joined, SP has had some very colorful, informative, obnoxious, controversial, eloquent, and belligerent members, many of whom no longer participate. Back then, SP was the only blog site I found worthy my time. Since then, we have all kinds of blogging sites. Facebook has exploded, there's Twitter, LinkIn, and more sites coming online everyday. WordPress is an open-ended platform allowing one to create their own blog! In this information revolution, sites like SP have become diluted. I think that is part of the reason why members don't take the time to get pulled into debates and controversy, they simply don't have the time! Is that a good thing? I'm not sure, myself. Life was certainly simpler back in the days of the typewriter. In the complexities of this information revolution, it seems to me the finer things in life are becoming diluted, including taking the time to make a stand for what one believes.

I think that is part of the reason why members don't take the time to get pulled into debates and controversy, they simply don't have the time!

I know that's what sums it up for me. Seeking out controverial threads on SP to read or post in almost always feels like a waste of time that I could better use doing something else. If I really feel a need to take a stand on an issue, there are more effective ways to do it. Having said that, every once in a while it is fun to check out, or even get involved in the latest controversy, especially when familiar internet characters are involved. It was funny to see the wolves and vultures circling Chapter 11's 7 Summits Gear Sale; I guess the holiday break is over.

As for California's lone wolf, he's been heading south. I went on a nice long hike a couple of weeks ago not too far from where I suspect he is roaming now, in eastern Shasta County. Looks like a photo of him was captured in southern Oregon and he now has been named "Journey". http://www.redding.com/news/2012/jan/05/wild-wolf-enters-shasta-county/

Finally a detailed article from one of my usual sources:

http://www.redding.com/news/2012/jan/06/wolf-faces-tough-travels/

The beginning:

A Department of Fish and Game biologist in charge of monitoring a wild gray wolf that's made its way from Oregon to eastern Shasta County this week spoke bluntly and in stark terms Friday about the likelihood the wolf dubbed OR-7 by biologists will survive long enough to find the mate he's already traveled more than 800 miles hoping to locate. "Most wolves don't successfully establish a new pack or even join a new pack," said Mark Stopher, a DFG senior policy adviser based in Redding. "They die along the way." Stopher said while some wolves have been tracked traveling more than 6,000 miles as they seek a new pack or a mate, the vast majority don't make it nearly that far.

Another interesting part:

In an interview last week with the Los Angeles Times, Siskiyou County Supervisor Marcia Armstrong said the wolf should be shot on sight because of the threat it poses to livestock and people. She later softened her remarks in an interview with the Sacramento Bee. "It's unfair to ask people to live with this dangerous predator," she told the Bee. "It's romantic, maybe, for urban people. But this affects our quality of life. It affects when we go out to get mail from the mailbox: Do we have to carry a gun?"

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mountainsandsound wrote: But old traditions die hard.

Indeed.

On the other hand: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/outposts/2009/09/idaho-wolf-hunter-michael-vick.html

"People are loons. If they want to call up and have a discussion, I'm all about having a discussion. But they call me a fat redneck and a wolf killer and compare me to Michael Vick," Millage said. "I have a thick skin and a good sense of humor. What am I going to do, yell back at them?"

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrVkEKcSoFE[/youtube]

butitsadryheat wrote:A lone wolf is no more dangerous to her than any black bear, even less so, I would imagine.

My imagination brings me to someone with that mindset shooting herself. If not herself, then shooting an animal, or even another human, when other solutions are available. The sort of simple mindedness she displays unfairly leads to responsible gun owners being painted in a bad light with a broad brush:

http://www.redding.com/news/2012/jan/08/report-woman-accidentally-shoots-self/?partner=popular

I wonder if it will learn to live outside the pack.

Seems like the story of this particular wolf will be pretty easy to continue following. As far as things that usually happen, along with some things that have happened with wolf behavior around Yellowstone, the wikipedia page on gray wolves seems pretty well done:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_wolf