02/04/09 Santiam Pass
Could wolves have made it to Santiam Pass? Photos taken just last month have Fish and Wildlife experts asking that. The photos were taken by a tourist traveling over Santiam Pass.
Wolves have not been in the area for about a hundred years. The nearest pack is along the Idaho border. Numerous U.S. Wildlife officials from Idaho and Montana have taken a look at the pictures and believe it is a wolf.
"I went out and followed the tracks on several different occasions and it traveled in a very straight line, b-lining south, over five miles out into the forest, so it didn't go to somebody's house. From that standpoint, it potentially is a wild animal," says John Stephenson, Biologist with the U.S. Dept. of Fish and Wildlife.
Wildlife officials say it is a bit surprising to see a wolf this far to the west. From observing the tracks they believe this is a lone animal, not part of a pack. There is also the possibility that this animal is some sort of a wolf hybrid.
Comments
Was afraid of saying so..
My family and I were coming back from Medford during a Winter evening a few years back and had just a glimpse of what had to be a wolf South of the Rogue park cataract turn offf! Of course all five of us were really stunned, then unsure as to what we saw. I've seen a wolf in the wild as a young kid way back, so I've seen it before, but oh wow! What an experience! They're BAAAAAACK!