Authorities issue warning after ‘predator’ not seen in 100 years in US
A warning has been issued to hikers who venture on a popular trail in the US, after the discovery of a predator reportedly not seen in 100 years.
Thought to be hunted to the point of extinction, grey wolves have been spotted in the Lassen Volcanic National Park in northern California.
The single witness claims they saw a mother, father, and their two pups — a sighting which has not been recorded since the 1920s.
According to officials, while the possible sighting is welcome — it comes with a stern warning to tourists who venture around the region on hikes.
The group sighting was detected by a camera trap in the south of the National Park, the US Forest Service said - with officials hoping it may mean the species is in the midst of recovering.
According to the department’s ‘grey wolf co-ordinator’, the wolf family could be ‘utilizing portions of the park’ to create a new home — but regardless, there’s hope that the sighting could be the start of a slow resurgence of the canine species to the area.
In a statement, as reported by the Daily Mail, the wolves — should they expand — would alter the current ecosystem, with the area once brimming with the canines before they were hunted to what was thought to be extinction.
“While we do not normally share locations of wolves in California, because it is in a national park and local media have been reporting on it, we did want to confirm with the public that this is correct,” officials from the California Wolf Watch said.
“While grey wolves have been confirmed dispersing through the park such as OR-54, a female wolf born in 2016 to Oregon’s Rogue Pack, this is the first time a pack has been confirmed inside the national park.”
Officials say as a precaution, hikers in the area should carry bear spray.
The officials said that with possible growth of the wolf species, it could work wonders for the population of another animal that’s called the Lassen Volcanic National Park home in the past few decades.
“Lassen Volcanic National Park is also home to one of the only known breeding populations of endangered Sierra Nevada Red Foxes, which is significant because there’s evidence this species will benefit from the return of grey wolves back to California,” the statement read, as reported by The Mirror.
“When wolves were extirpated from California by 1924, Sierra Nevada Red Foxes have been negatively impacted and outcompeted by coyotes so with the return of wolves to California, it is anticipated wolves will be reducing coyote numbers leading to a potential increase in Sierra Nevada Red Foxes.
“Something similar was observed in Yellowstone after wolves were reintroduced back to the park in 1995-1996 with an increase of red fox sightings occurred after wolves were reintroduced.”
