In 2011, a male wolf loped across the Oregon border near the small Siskiyou County city of Dorris, three days after Christmas.
It was the first time since the 1920s a gray wolf's paws had touched California soil after the animals were exterminated after the Gold Rush.
The arrival of the wolf known as OR7 and his months of wanderings through the state's rugged northeastern corner captivated the world and set off a fearsome debate between environmentalists and ranchers over whether wolves warranted protections under California's Endangered Species Act.
Nine years later, biologists believe OR7 � known as "Journey" by his fans � is likely dead. He was 11 years old, a long life for a wolf in the wild.
Oregon biologists who monitor OR7's Rogue Pack in southwestern Oregon announced this week they didn't see OR7 over the winter when tracks are easier to spot in the snow and when pack members are more likely together.
His absence from the pack he founded leads biologist to believe he likely succumbed to old age, said Michelle Dennehy, a spokeswoman for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
"We saw the remaining three wolves including the breeding female," Dennehy said. "We've seen those three several times since October, and we've never seen OR7. We don't have any proof, but for a wolf in the wild, he is old ... so it's reasonable to assume that he's gone."
Wolf biologists caution, however, that older wolves are known to leave their packs to spend the remainder of their lives alone. Since OR7's GPS-tracking collar quit working several years ago, his true fate may never be known.
Biologists say OR7 was born in northeastern Oregon's Imnaha Pack most likely in April 2009.
In February 2011, biologists tranquilized him and put a GPS collar around his neck that allowed them to follow his movements and share his location with the public. The number 7 signified he was the seventh wolf collared in that state.
Driven by his instinct to find a mate, he struck out from the pack in September 2011, wandering hundreds of miles south.
On Dec. 28, 2011, he crossed Highway 161, the road that serves as the border between Oregon and California, into a region of California where cattle outnumber people � a land of wheat and potato farms, cattle ranches, sprawling forests, sagebrush and lava rock.
His meandering, 3,000-mile journey through northeastern California was chronicled in detail by news outlets across the planet, reporting for a public eager to embrace the idea of wolves returning to America's most populated state. Several books and at least two documentaries would later detail OR7's journey.
"The whole world was watching," said Amaroq Weiss, a wolf advocate for the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group.
OR7 eventually returned to Oregon, found a mate and started his own family, which became known as the Rogue Pack.
Protected in California
But not everyone was happy at OR7's arrival. Ranchers and big game hunters worried wolves would deplete elk and deer herds and would develop a taste for cattle and sheep.
They unsuccessfully fought efforts in 2014 to list gray wolves as endangered under the state's Endangered Species Act, arguing at the time a single wolf's forays into the state weren't enough to warrant the protections.
Plus, they said that if wolves did return, the protections would hamper their ability to manage packs that chronically prey on livestock or that became overpopulated to the point they began depleting local big game herds.
Officials at the Department and Fish and Wildlife also argued against the protections at the time, citing many of the same concerns.
But after hearing passionate pleas from wolf advocates, the Fish and Game Commission voted to protect the animals. State officials now acknowledge that enough wolves have since returned to California that the listing would have been inevitable.
In the years since OR7's arrival, at least 30 wolves have either passed through, settled or been born in the remote, five-county region about the size of West Virginia in California's northeastern corner.
Some of those California wolves were OR7's progeny. He sired about a dozen pups in southwestern Oregon.
The only known wolf pack still in California � the Lassen Pack which roams through portions of Lassen and Plumas counties � contains OR7's bloodline.
Another wolf, OR54 � born into OR7's litter in 2016 � came into California in January 2018 and traveled more than 8,700 miles as she ranged across northern California as far south as Interstate 80 and Lake Tahoe, with forays into Nevada and back into Oregon.
Biologists found OR54 dead earlier this year in Shasta County. Officials haven't released OR54's cause of death, citing an ongoing investigation, but they warn game wardens take "very seriously any threats to this recovering wolf population."
Livestock losses frustrate ranchers
OR54 was suspected in at least five different attacks on livestock in Plumas County last year.
As wolves like OR7 and his offspring repopulate the West, conflicts with ranchers have been common. OR7's bloodline has often been at the center of those conflicts.
In 2016, Oregon wildlife officials killed the four members of OR7's original pack, the Imnaha, because they continually preyed on livestock. Northeastern Oregon's wolves aren't protected under the federal Endangered Species Act.
Over the years, Oregon officials also documented 24 confirmed "depredation events" when OR7's Rogue Pack killed or attacked a rancher's animals.
Western Oregon's wolves are protected, so they can't be killed to protect livestock.
Local ranchers put out guard dogs, electric fencing and even one of those dancing inflatable "tube men" commonly seen flailing about outside businesses like car dealerships to try to scare the Rogue Pack away. They had limited success. The Rogue Pack was responsible for nine of the 16 livestock depredations Oregon officials recorded last year.
Ranchers say that when wolves are nearby the losses to their cattle aren't reflected in the raw kill counts reported by the state. They don't take into account the additional labor costs that come with managing their herds differently. Plus, they say just having a wolf pack around stresses cattle to the point they fetch lower weights at the auction house, and heifers have fewer healthier calves � all money out of their bottom line.
OR7 may have been a celebrity in faraway cities, but for ranchers in the Rogue Pack's territory, he and his progeny were a major headache once the headlines about his California adventures faded.
"I don't think our general population, especially in urban areas, understands the challenge that wolves have on livestock operations, said Veril Nelson, a rancher who's a member of the Oregon Cattlemen's Association's wolf committee.
In announcing OR7's fate, Oregon wildlife biologists said they counted at least 158 wolves � totaling 22 packs � in Oregon this past winter, a 15% increase over the previous winter's count of 137.
For environmentalists like Weiss, the growing numbers of wolves in states like Oregon and California is an American conservation success story, and OR7 will play a key role in their continued recovery.
Weiss said that though he may be dead, OR7 lives on, not only through his pups but also because so many people learned about wolf behavior as they followed his journey, and they were so inspired, they wanted to protect wolves in the Golden State.
"Part of OR7's legacy is informing the world what wolves are all about. The main reasons wolves have been so persecuted is because people didn't know what wolves are about; they misunderstood them; they feared them," she said.
"California was a poster child for how you want a state to respond when wolves come in. When OR7 crossed the border, this state laid a welcome mat for that wolf."
