California's Lone Wolf Protection Program

Hey, it's me again, the "lone wolf" who's not so lonely anymore. I've become a father! Some of you may recall my personal ad here last year seeking a wild fang.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022974112

Alas, most of the responses I received were from humans who thought I was cute and cuddly. No thanks. I'm not interested in becoming anyone's pet, though that might be preferable to my current situation as the object of nonstop government surveillance. After I was born in 2009, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife strapped a GPS collar around my neck and labeled me "OR-7." They couldn't even give me a cool name like Logan.

As a teenager, I left my pack, in search of a girlfriend. Over the next two years, I roamed more than 3,000 miles, creating quite a stir when my wanderings took me into California in 2011. I'm told that wolves haven't been recorded in the state for more than 60 years. Crazy Californians tweeted my whereabouts when they spotted me. Then the nanny-state government directed a special team to monitor me and devise a "wolf management plan." I can survive just fine on my own, thank you very much. Having lost my wanderlust, I returned in March 2013 to my native Oregon.

(snip)

In early May, a camera snapped a shot of my dark-furred partner romping by my den. Soon, news about our relationship was buzzing on the Internet. Newspapers called her my "mystery mate" because no one could figure out where she had come from or how long we had been together. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist John Stephenson told an interviewer that "it always seemed like a real long shot" that I'd find love since I was 250 miles from the nearest known pack. He suspects that she was a "long-distance disperser" (i.e., a wanderer) like me. Scientists are conducting DNA tests on her scat to determine her ancestry, which will no doubt become part of a public database.

Then came the revelation that I was the proud father of two 6-week-old pups. Government biologists were as giddy as new grandparents and circulated photos of them to the media. Environmentalists went wild and petitioned for my protection under California's Endangered Species Act on the off-chance that my progeny decide to strike it out on their own someday and follow in my pawsteps south to the Golden State. Apparently, I leave a scented trail wherever I go.

Environmentalists also worry that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will soon act on its proposal last year to "delist" gray wolves in the lower 48 states. There are currently about 6,000 gray wolves in the Western Great Lakes and Northern Rocky Mountains region. Under the federal Endangered Species Act, people can be fined $100,000 for killing or harassing me. Paternalistic environmentalists say I need additional protections. Last week, the California Fish and Game Commission, after a three-hour hearing, voted to list me as an endangered species under state law.

More..

http://online.wsj.com/articles/allysia-finley-californias-lone-wolf-protection-program-1402441748



Lone wolf OR-7 on the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest path in Oregon's Cascade Mountains in May.