The Wolf Preservation Blog

Wednesday, October 19th, 2011

“A gray wolf dispersing from the Imnaha pack in Wallowa County has been confirmed in Harney County. Over the past week or so it came down from the Strawberry Mountains and through the Silvies Valley, keeping to the more forested and vegetated sections of the national forest lands. It moved in a straight, deliberate line as wolves do when they are intent on serious long-distance travel. For the past few days it has been hanging around west of Burns, mainly on private ranch land. The wolf has a GPS collar so its location information can be downloaded periodically via satellite.

OR-3, the dispersing Imnaha wolf that was located in the Ochoco Mountains last month is still believed to be in the area. At least one person has reported seeing it, but as of last week efforts by US Fish and Wildlife biologists to find it during ground searches have been unsuccessful.

Because the Ochoco wolf, which has a VHF radio collar emitting radio signals allowing it to be tracked, has been moving fairly slowly since it left its home pack and has been lingering for long periods of time in small areas before moving on, biologists are speculating that it might indicate he is traveling with another wolf or wolves. However, it must be emphasized that is only speculation at this point based on OR-3’s behavior and multiple wolves would need to be seen by a reliable observer or multiple wolf tracks found to make a confirmation.

The Imnaha wolf that dispersed into Idaho earlier this year had its radio collar signal detected north of Weiser in late July.

 The photo accompanying this post is of OR-3, currently a resident of the Ochoco Mountains. Photo by ODFW.”

*Special thanks to Oregon Wildlife News and Views for providing this information (http://sneakcat.blogspot.com/2011/10/wolf-confirmed-in-harney-county.html)