California’s lone wolf might not be so lonely anymore.
Cameras recorded the existence of the wolf in May and again in July. Now, more recently, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife deployed more cameras — and the photos show the lone wolf is a papa.
Images captured by the camera show five pups, who appear to be a few months old.
And wildlife officials in California are over the moon.
“This news is exciting for California,” said Charlton H. Bonham, director of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “We knew wolves would eventually return home to the state and it appears now is the time.”
Among state’s ‘most inspirational conservation stories’
And the government department is not the only place where excitement reigns.
“California is on the verge of a long awaited homecoming for one of its native species, the gray wolf,” The California Wolf Center says on its website.
“We are now a part of one of the most inspirational conservation stories in the history of this state. Wolves have been absent from California for nearly a century, after being eradicated in the early 1900s through a government funded extermination campaign.”