California wildlife officials are actively investigating several reported wolf sightings in the Hope Valley area, approximately 30 minutes south of Lake Tahoe. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has deployed cameras in response to multiple eyewitness accounts, including one report of four wolves spotted last week.
Peter Tira, spokesperson for CDFW, confirmed in an email sent to SFGATE on Wednesday that the department has received multiple reports from the public about wolf activity in the region.
These reports have been submitted to both the CDFW's wolf program and officials in the North Central Region, which includes Alpine and El Dorado counties.
"Rumors are flying, and we are doing our best to keep officials in El Dorado and Alpine County updated on our efforts," Tira said. "We will continue to monitor the area and follow-up on any more reports."
While the department has yet to confirm the presence of wolves, the volume of reports has prompted a thorough investigation.
Newsweek contacted Tira via email outside of business hours for an update on the sightings.
Gray wolves, protected under both California and Federal Endangered Species Acts, are native to California.
Two new wolf packs were officially named back in January, bringing the total number of wolves in the state to 45, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.
Their historical range included the Sierra Nevada, Southern Cascades, Modoc Plateau, Klamath Mountains and possibly the North Coast Ranges. By the 1920s, wolves had vanished from the state entirely. It wasn't until 2011 that wolves began to return, starting with a male wolf known as "OR-7" who crossed from Oregon into California.
Today, CDFW has confirmed seven wolf packs in California. Multiple packs exist in the northern Sierra Nevada, in Sierra, Nevada and Plumas counties, with more in Lassen, Shasta and Siskiyou counties. The Yowlumni Pack, discovered last year in Tulare County's Sequoia National Forest, represents the southernmost known wolf pack in the state.
This isn't the first potential wolf activity in the area. In 2021, a wolf designated OR-93 traveled through Alpine and El Dorado counties during an impressive 935-mile journey across California. Tragically, OR-93 was found dead in Kern County in November 2021, likely struck by a vehicle.
"There may be an unknown number of individual wolves that have dispersed from packs or adjacent states," the CDFW states on its website. The department encourages the public to report any evidence of wolves, including tracks, scat, photographs or video footage. Reports can be submitted directly to CDFW's wolf program for investigation.
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