OR-7: Biologists confirm Oregon wolf has at least 2 pups

The Oregonian
Lynne Terry
June 4, 2014

OR-7's long trek has ended as wildlife biologists had suspected, and as wolf lovers had hoped: with offspring.

Oregon and U.S. wildlife biologists confirmed this week that Oregon's erstwhile wandering wolf has fathered at least two pups.

In May, biologists collected images from a remote camera in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest that indicated he had a mate, a black female. They suspected the two were denning. On Monday, they confirmed their suspicions, discovering two pups.

They mark the first known wolf reproduction in the Oregon Cascades since the mid-1940s. 

"This is very exciting news," said Paul Henson, state supervisor of the Oregon U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office. "It continues to illustrate that gray wolves are being recovered."

Last winter, biologists counted 64 wolves in Oregon, mostly in the northeast corner of the state.

Wolves usually produce four to six pups per litter so those numbers are almost certain to change this winter when a new count is done. Biologists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife collected scat samples from the area for DNA analysis, which might reveal the origin of OR-7's mate. Biologists have a wolf database that allows them to trace lineage.

Not that long ago, the only records of wolves in Oregon were of bounty kills, said Rob Klavins, wolf expert at Oregon Wild.

"And here we are with the first pups born in western Oregon in nearly a century," Klavins said. "That's a testament to what we can accomplish."

Wolves throughout Oregon are protected by the state Endangered Species Act. West of Oregon Highways 395, 78 and 95, they also fall under federal protection.

But Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., said federal protections are under threat.

"As we celebrate OR-7 and his new family, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is threatening to disregard science and take the gray wolf off the Endangered Species list," DeFazio said in a statement. "If the service delists the gray wolf, states could declare open season on gray wolves like OR-7, his mate, and these new pups."

The Fish and Wildlife Service will make a final decision later this year.

-- Lynne Terry