Promise not to laugh at my wolf sighting!!??

Monday night around 8:30 - 9:00 I swear I saw a wolf standing along side the road.
We were driving home from a camp ground near Vail Lake in Riverside County. We were on a pretty deserted back.
I know it wasn't a coyote, nor was it a Siberian Husky or Malamute. I've been told it could have been some sort of hybrid, perhaps.
There wasn't any collar that I could see and was wondering if there is any possibility that I saw a Mexican Gray Wolf. (now - I said don't laugh)
I've Googled it and although what I saw looked just like a timber wolf or Mexican Grey Wolf, everything I've read says that the wild wolf population in California is just about zero.
The Sierra Escape-Winter 1989/90 Vol.III, No.2 says "Wolves are virtually extinct in California-three verified sightings in 125 years-so a wolf sighting is unlikely."

But what I saw just sticks in my mind...

The book/article you're referencing was from 15 yrs ago, so I wouldn't be surprised if things have changed since then. I know a lot has been done to reintroduce wolves to Yellowstone, etc and they're rapidly spreading out, if there have been conservation efforts to save the Mexican wolf then it could perhaps be spreading too. They definitely aren't that common, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear that there were a few around!

I've done quite a bit of searching and can't find any recent information.
I hope it was really a wolf, it was so impressive.

I was having a discussion with a friend this weekend about the wolf population. Apparently we will soon see more as they migrate into the area. You might very well have seen one. They are now in oregon and are making their way south with every litter. Mountain lions are doing well again finally. In fact, so well we ought to be selling tags for them.

Until I read how rare wolves are I would have bet my life what I saw was actually a wolf.

Your responses make me feel so much better.
It's a such an amazing thing to see and I can't get it out of my mind.

I did find out there is a wolf sanctuary in Julian, about 80 miles south of here. I sent an email, but haven't heard anything from them.

And thank you for not laughing *S*
Dove

That's pretty amazing Dovey, but I still shudder a bit. I live in total suburbia, yet a very narrow, and when I say narrow, I mean like no wider than a city block wide of "wilderness" stops by the high school near my home. Coyotes use this strip of wilderness as a trail and then trot across the high school fields and come into my neighborhood and eat cats and assorted other snacks. I think wild animals are great and all and glad we are trying to give them part of their territory back, but I still am not so big on mountain lions and wolves cruising the hood on a Saturday night.

Mountain lions have been spotted on this wilderness trail before, and I personally saw a bobcat a few years back.

That is truly amazing though Dovey!

Hi Lisa,
M and I find it so cool to live near wildlife, things we haven't seen with since our childhood.
Up until a year and a half ago we lived in San Diego. The only wild life we saw was downtown in the historic Gas Lamp District. ;-)
At this point all the local "Wolf Experts" insist I didn't see a wolf, perhaps a very large Coyote or a hybrid wolf.

From the California Wolf Center:

Aw so what if they say it was a large coyote, Dove. I know for sure it wasn't a turtle, so let's just keep on believing it was a wolf because he was pretty darn impressive!

*LOL*

Nope not a turtle, that's for dang sure

Whatever you saw, I am sure it was awesome. I know I am always impressed when I see something in the wild. :~)

This message was edited Jul 13, 2006 10:20 PM

Dovey, The wolf you saw can have come from over 400 miles from where you saw it. Young wolf both female and male can decide to just leave the pack to search for a partner FAR away from where they where born.

Early this spring a wolf was 100 % positively identified in the outskirts of our capitol where I was born. They had a video to prove there case :0)) Where it came from? some 400 miles north of the capitol. This is not the first sighting and I sure hope it wont be the last.

I don't think the wolf center ever will acknowledge that it was a wolf you saw. Why? they are afraid that there will be wolf hysteria and that peoples hatred and fear for wolf will stick its ugly head up.

Some years back I live very close to a small wolfpack only two adults and their pupps. Unknowing to me then they had their lair about a mile from where I lived. I often wandered those woods picking berries and mushroom and never saw or heard them. Later some maniac murdered the whole pack, pupps and all. The wolf is protected here since they where almost extinct some years ago. We only had 60 Swedish wolfs left in the 70ths but their numbers is rising :0))

This is a site I have been visiting for about 6 years now. I have loved to read and check up on Orca a Alpha male that broke his back and how the cured him enough for him to live on.
http://www.wolfpark.org/index.html
Janett

I have been working for chiropractors as a massage therapist for many years and you would be amazed at how many people have told me that their dog is a wolf (legal or not).

hellnzn11 if you referring to the wolfs I lived by so NO they where 100% wolfs and lived in the wild. How I know?
When they where found killed the agency that checked up on the wolfs ended up in the paper with the remnants of the wolfs. This guy tracked this pack with a "radarcollar" on one of the adult wolfs and he was seeking for info if someone heard or had seen anything that could lead them to the culprit.
They HAVE tried to outlaw wolfhybrids here by law but that failed because at some point all dogs are wolf hybrids more or less and the law they tried to pass would have made ALL dogs illegal.

Those here that have 50-50 wolf hybrids have to have wildlife permitt and 10ft high fenced in property.if they have their wolfdogs loose on their property.
Janett

Janett,
Thank you for the information, I didn't realize the extreme distance a wolf may travel.
They are majestic animals, how devastating to have some ignorant person murder the wolves that lived near you.
I hope the person was caught and punished for such a despicable crime.

You have a good point about the wolf center, and just because all their wolves are present and accounted for doesn't mean it wasn't a wolf.

I'll take a look at the wolf site link in a little while.
Take care
Dove

Helln,
Your clients were talking about pure wolves, not a wolf-dog mix, correct?

I guess I'm not so surprised, an unbelievable 20 years ago, how can it be so long ago ;-o,
I met a couple who lived in Lake Arrowhead California. They owned 2 wolves.
It was a bit eerie to have the 2 long-legged creatures pace about while I was sitting in the living-room. I remember the owner put them out on the deck to make me more comfortable.

I hadn't thought about that until you mentioned it... Oh my gosh they were beautiful (and illegal) Lake Arrowhead is only 75 miles away.

Although they were amazing, I don't think I would be willing to share my home with a timber wolf, raised from pups or not, I think they are meant to be wild.

Just out of curiosity, did any of your clients say how they managed to get their wolves?

Was this the same story that was on the news about a year or so ago? People were on the internet tracking the wolves and they saw it hadn`t moved for a long time so they checked and the wolf was killed? There was some controversy because it was the leader of the pack as to what would happen to the rest or something did happen to the female or something like that??*&%$ I love French Valley especially in the green season. I always wanted to go on a long motorcycle ride there. lucky

I dont belive our wolfs would end up in the news on the other side of the gblobe :0). This was about 10 years ago and the culprits that killed them where never caught.

At about the same time way up in the north Sweden two persons with snowscooters chased another wolf for miles and finally they killed it, Snowtrack in the north where roads and people are scares are easy to track. Those two got prison and hefty fines. They where not just judged for the illegal kill they where also judged for the stress and torture they had put upon the wolf by hunting it in that speed and so long.

Here they have changed there tracking devices after these two kills I dont remember now exactly what device they where gonna use, but it was something about that the device the animal protectors used activated the collar and also could shut it down to make it harder for thugs to get a hold of the wolfs with collar. You cant track something that doesnt give out a beep and here they dont track them by sattelite just for that reason, to limit the culprits opportunity.
Janett

Hi Dovey,

What ever it was you photographed, it was absolutely beautiful!
Looks like a wolf to me : )

JT
Hi, how are you doing?
We were driving, just after dusk, slowing going around a curve, when I saw it.
I wish I could have got a picture, talk about proof!
But I didn't think fast enough to dig the camera outta my purse.
That's a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service photo.

dovey I don`t know where they got their wolves from. I read a story in a Tehachapi paper about these elk that lived for many , many years in a gated community Bear Valley, an area of tehachapi. The head elk had generations of children and grandchildren that followed him as the patriarch. They would come in peoples yards and folks would feed them and follow their lives. Last year two drunks saw the elk in his front yard and just got a gun and shot it point blanc. One was from Bakersfield and I believe he got caught with it`s head or something. They got arrested and Punished but it doesn`t help the elk family that he led. How sick to harm the poor things when they had no fear of man.

Dovey,

How far is French Valley from Perris? We are 18 miles southeast of Riverside, between Moreno Valley and Hemet. You are so lucky to have seen a wolf in the wilds. I have only seen them at San Diego and Los Angeles zoos. Thanks for sharing your experience with us.

Thanks again,

Chuck

Hi Chuck,
We're not far at all, you know where the French Valley Airport is on Winchester Road?
French Valley is between Temecula and Winchester.

Since my sighting I have been able to find more information than had at first, now I don't believe it's as unlikely as some of the reports had suggested.
Recent reports show there are a few monitored wolf packs in California and Arizona.

Dovey,

I know exactly where Winchester Road is. Thanks for answering so fast. I guess maybe someday I will be able to see a wolf pack in the wilds.

Thanks again,

Chuck