Wolf sightings -- experts are skeptical
I'm in no position to argue with people who think they've spotted a wolf in the wild in California. They saw what they saw. However, just to see what they think, I contacted the California Wolf Center for a big-picture take. Board member Amaroq Weiss was kind enough to respond in some detail with a few possible explanations and some background:
--- We are aware that a number of people who own wolf-dog hybrids sometimes find themselves unable to care for their animals and, in a misguided attempt to arrive at a solution other than sending them to a shelter, will release them into the wild. Depending on the breed of dog in them, they can look awfully wolf-like, yet these animals are not pure wolves nor are they wild. (Though there are some people who claim to own pure wolves who have also released them, either because they could not manage them or perhaps with intent to "start" a wolf population in the area -- yet, again, these are not wild wolves, born in the wild).
I'm in no position to argue with people who think they've spotted a wolf in the wild in California. They saw what they saw. However, just to see what they think, I contacted the California Wolf Center for a big-picture take. Board member Amaroq Weiss was kind enough to respond in some detail with a few possible explanations and some background:
--- We are aware that a number of people who own wolf-dog hybrids sometimes find themselves unable to care for their animals and, in a misguided attempt to arrive at a solution other than sending them to a shelter, will release them into the wild. Depending on the breed of dog in them, they can look awfully wolf-like, yet these animals are not pure wolves nor are they wild. (Though there are some people who claim to own pure wolves who have also released them, either because they could not manage them or perhaps with intent to "start" a wolf population in the area -- yet, again, these are not wild wolves, born in the wild).
--- Some coyotes can be of pretty good size and can be mistaken for wolves by the untrained eye. There are size differences not only in overall body size, but also in things like tail length and carriage, ear length, muzzle breadth and paw size -- and behavior -- and this isn't too easily discernible if you are sighting them while driving along the highway or if the animal is a tad too far away.
--- The highly increased presence of news stories about wolves seems to jog people's memories about a "wolf sighting" they made a few years ago. I'm guessing you may have found this to be true for a few different categories of different types of news stories, not just with wolves. But wild animals do tend to stir our primal interests and if we have had a contact with them, we generally like to share our experience with others. Whether folks are happy or unhappy that wolves might be returning, a memory of a sighting that occurred several years before may not be too reliable in determining whether what the person saw was actually the species they believe it may have been.
Could the animals sighted be wild wolves that either were not ever eradicated from California or that migrated here from a neighboring state? While possible, the first option is not too likely. The second option is possible but with insufficient evidence to know for certain.
There have literally been no reports of wild wolves living in California since 1922 and 1924, when the last known wild wolves in this state were killed in Lassen County and San Bernardino Counties, respectively. Northern California and the Sierras have a lot of wild country still, yet, both areas are regularly visited by or inhabited by people. If wolves had not been eradicated in this state, there would likely have been a more continuous string of reported sightings through the decades.
As for dispersing wolves migrating here from other states, it only took four years, from 1995-96, when the reintroductions took place in Idaho and Yellowstone, for a wolf to make her way from Idaho into north-central Oregon in 1999. She was a second generation female -- that is, offspring of some of the introduced wolves. And within a decade of the introductions, a wolf from Yellowstone was found to have wandered down to Colorado.
Wolves do have the capability of traveling long distances, so it's not out of the question that any of the purported wolf sightings in California in the last 5 years or so could be random dispersers from, perhaps, Idaho. But because of the other explanations described above, we simply don't have evidence sufficient to establish that what folks have seen from time to time is an actual wild wolf or wolves. I, personally, have been sent descriptions and/or photographs that people took, who contacted me to insist that what they saw was a wolf. These were sightings between 2000-2007, during which time I was a board member for the California Wolf Center and also worked for Defenders of Wildlife, working specifically on wolf issues in the Northern Rockies, Pacific West and Alaska. Based on what they described or photographed, the animals sighted all ended up having descriptions other than the physical characteristics of a wolf or the photograph sent me clearly showed that they were not wolves (e.g., paws way too small, face shape very doglike, etc.).
Notwithstanding all of the above, wolves will make their way to California. There is an old Russian proverb that states that the wolf is an animal who lives by its feet -- meaning, it travels as part of its nature. Northern California still has excellent habitat for wolves, so it would be no surprise for a journeying wolf to arrive within our border and make its home here.
Bottom line: Could be --- but they haven't confirmed a reported sighting yet.
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