OR7 goes Rogue, gets wolf pack status

OR7 in the Oregon Cascades last May. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

OR7, the gray wolf that roamed Northern California alone a few years ago, then went home to Oregon and found a mate, is now officially the leader of his own pack. From AP and Capital Public Radio:

State and federal wildlife agencies said Wednesday they have designated OR-7, his mate and their pups the Rogue Pack, for their location in the Rogue River drainage in the Cascades east of Medford.

It's the first pack in western Oregon and ninth in the state since wolves from Idaho started swimming the Snake River in the 1990s.

As a youngster, OR-7 left his pack in northeastern Oregon in September 2011 in search of a mate, and traveled thousands of miles across Oregon and into Northern California before finding one last winter in the southern Cascades.

Previously on LA Observed:
Oregon's OR7 has himself a wolf family now
OR7 hooks up with a likely mate, finally poses for his closeup
No female wolves in California, so OR7 returns to Oregon
Wolf OR7 has his first known human contact in California
OR7 crosses highway 395, takes a break
Oregon's wandering wolf enters California