A gray wolf recently tracked near Truckee did not simply wander into town. It completed an extraordinary journey from Lassen County, traveling well beyond the core range of California’s wolf population.
The Truckee Police Department issued a community awareness bulletin Sunday after GPS data showed a collared wolf moving through the area. According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the wolf’s collar pinged in the Truckee region for the first time between Saturday night, Jan. 31, and Sunday morning, Feb. 1. Location data placed the animal in the Tahoe-Donner area and central Truckee, west of Highway 267.
By Sunday afternoon, the wolf had already moved several miles away. By Monday, it had crossed into Nevada.
CDFW confirmed the animal is a dispersing male. This means it is old enough to leave its pack and search for new territory. The wolf originated from the Harvey Pack, which is primarily based in Lassen County. Most of California’s ten known wolf packs are located in the northeastern part of the state, making this movement south especially notable. A Truckee police representative described the visit as rare…