A lone gray wolf whose last known confirmed location was in San Luis Obispo County may still be alive and roaming Ventura County, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW).
The agency reported Friday that between September 20 and 26, they received three separate reports of a gray wolf with a purple collar in northern Ventura County. CDFW staff reportedly confirmed recent wolf tracks in the area.
CDFW says it can't confirm whether the animal is OR-93, although it matches the young wolf's description.
OR-93 was tracked from Oregon, where he was born in 2019, south through at least 16 California counties, according to CDFW.
The last time his radio collar emitted a signal was on April 5 in San Luis Obispo County.
CDFW says in August, it received a Kern County trail camera video that was taken in May that showed a collared gray wolf that could have been OR-93.
CDFW says if the wolf recently spotted in Ventura County can be located, they may try to capture and put a new collar on it so they can continue to track its journey.
Gray wolves are listed as endangered under California's Endangered Species Act.
CDFW says all of California was once wolf habitat, but this is the farthest south in the state any gray wolf has been documented since one was captured in San Bernardino County in 1922.
