A rare gray wolf made an epic 1,500km trek across the US. Then a vehicle hit him
- No foul play was suspected in the death of the male known as OR-93, who had thrilled scientists as he journeyed from Oregon into California
- The wolf’s travels had taken him far south, to a region where his species had not been seen for more than 200 years
Wolf advocates across the US were brooding over the bad news this week: the epic journey of a lone gray wolf that ventured from Oregon to the very edge of Southern California’s crowded suburbs in search of territory and female mates had ended in a vehicle collision near Interstate 5 in the Kern County town of Lebec.
“OR-93’s relentless wandering gave us hope, inspiration and a brief glimpse at what it would be like to see wolves running free across California again,” said Amaroq Weiss, a spokeswoman for the Centre for Biological Diversity. “I only wish we could have offered him a safer world.”
California’s most adventurous wolf was found dead on the afternoon of November 10 by a truck driver who noticed the carcass on a dirt trail near a frontage road running parallel to Interstate 5, officials said.
A state game warden collected the remains, which were transported to the Wildlife Health Laboratory in Rancho Cordova, California, where the necropsy was performed.
A necropsy conducted on the carcass, which was found roughly 50 miles (80km) north of Los Angeles, determined that OR-93 had suffered “significant tissue trauma to the left rear leg, a dislocated knee and soft tissue trauma to the abdomen”, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said on Wednesday.