State wildlife officials say they believe a gray wolf has been roaming the wilds near the California-Oregon border.
The Department of Fish and Wildlife said Monday one of several cameras set up in Siskiyou County captured an image in May of what may have been a wolf but that DNA testing on feces collected in the area was inconclusive.
Officials say they set up remote trail cameras after receiving reports earlier this year of a large, dark-colored canid, an animal from the family that includes wolves, foxes, coyotes, jackals and dogs.
State biologists believe the lone animal is a gray wolf based on the images and tracks found by biologists in June. They say its footprints are too big to be from a dog.
If they confirm the animal is a gray wolf, it would be the first time in more than a year that a wolf has been sighted in California.
Fish and Wildlife officials say this animal is not OR-7, the famed Oregon wolf which briefly wandered into California in 2011. They assume the animal sighted in this instance broke off from another wolf pack in Oregon.
