OR-7

For the Oregon state highway, see Oregon Route 7. For NATO rank OR-7, see Ranks and insignia of NATO armies enlisted.

OR-7
OR-7 in Jackson County, Oregon, in May 2014
Other name(s)Journey
SpeciesGray wolf (Canis lupus)
BreedNorthwestern wolf subspecies (C. l. occidentalis)
SexMale
BornApril 2009
Oregon
Died2020 (presumed)
Nation fromUnited States
Parent(s)B-300F/OR-2F (mother)[1] & OR-4M[2]
Offspring7 pups[3]
Weight90 lb (41 kg) in February 2011[4]
AppearanceGray
Named after7th wolf collared in Oregon

OR-7, also known as Journey, was a male gray wolf that was electronically tracked as he migrated from the Wallowa Mountains in the northeastern corner of the U.S. state of Oregon to the southern Cascade Range. After the wolf dispersed from his natal pack in 2011, he wandered generally southwest for more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km) through Oregon and northern California. He was the first confirmed wild wolf in western Oregon since 1947 and the first in California since 1924.

By 2014, OR-7 had settled in the Rogue River watershed in the southern Cascade Range east of Medford, Oregon, with a mate. It is not known when the two wolves met, but DNA tests of fecal samples showed that she is related to wolves in two of the eight packs in northeastern Oregon. In early 2015, officials designated the two adult wolves and their offspring as the Rogue Pack, the first wolf pack in western Oregon and the state's ninth overall since wolves returned to Oregon from Idaho in the 1990s. The batteries in OR-7's tracking collar expired in October 2015, and monitoring the pack since then has depended on trail cameras and live sightings. Meanwhile, other wolves have migrated into the mountainous cross-border region, and relatives of OR–7 have formed two packs in northern California.

OR-7 was not observed at the 2020 winter count of wolves in Oregon, and as of April 2020 is presumed to have died.

  1. ^ Elgin, Beckie (October 9, 2016). "Book Review: Wolf Advocate's Memoir Filled with Insight and Awe". The Oregonian. p. 8. Retrieved 2021-08-20.
  2. ^ Morgan, Russ (2011). Oregon Wolf Conservation and Management Plan—2011 Annual Report (PDF) (Report). Oregon Fish & Wildlife.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference pack size was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "OR-7 – A Lone Wolf's Story". California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Archived from the original on December 29, 2016. Retrieved November 23, 2014.