A new pack of gray wolves has emerged in California’s Sierra Nevada, several hundred miles from other known populations of the endangered species, wildlife officials said on Friday. Considering that the native species was exterminated in California in the 1920s, the expedition researchers howled with delight. In the past decade alone, a few gray wolves have returned to the state from out-of-state packs.

According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, a report of a wolf seen in the Sequoia National Forest in Tulare County last month prompted researchers to find tracks and collect DNA samples from the fur and droppings. The researchers concluded that there was a new pack of at least five wolves previously unknown to California: an adult female and her four cubs.

Wildlife officials said the herd is at least 200 miles (321.8 kilometers) away from the next closest herd, located in Lassen Park in northeastern California. A third group is located in Northern California. Gray wolves are protected by both state and federal laws under the Endangered Species Act. It is forbidden to hurt or kill them.

DNA testing showed that the adult female in the new herd was a direct descendant of a wolf known as OR7, which crossed the Oregon border in 2011. aforementioned.

Officials said this wolf later returned to Oregon and is believed to have died there. Wildlife officials said the researchers found no trace of an adult male in the new herd, but the genetic profiles of the offspring suggest they came from Lassen’s herd. Source