Biologists this week assigned the famed gray wolf OR-7 and his brood official pack status, the Associated Press reports. They’re to be called the Rogue Pack, named after the Rogue River basin, where the pack has denned.
The two-year-old OR-7 earned his name because he was the seventh gray wolf to be radio collared by researchers in Oregon. Coupled with an active Twitter account dedicated to tracking the wolf’s movement, the radio collar placed around OR-7’s neck allowed people to digitally observe him as he set off from his pack in northeastern Oregon and covered vast distances in the West. He became the first wolf to enter California in decades before returning to Oregon, where he found a mate, sired pups, and currently roams.
The GPS collar that allows biologists and the wolf-loving public to follow along is still working but getting old. A previous attempt to trap and collar OR-7 or his mate failed this fall.
Biologists will make another attempt to replace his radio collar this spring.