Why did the gray wolf cross the road? Nobody knows yet.
A gray wolf was spotted in northern Lake County in late August, and it’s the first confirmed sighting west of Interstate 5 since the species began returning to California.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife got two reports and a set of photos from the area where Mendocino, Glenn, and Lake counties meet. A CDFW wolf biologist checked the photos, surveyed the area, and found wolf tracks at one of the two sighting locations. The agency believes it’s a single, dispersing black wolf – one animal moving on its own, likely still searching for territory or other wolves. It may have already left the county.