SOUTHERN OREGON, Ore. – High-tech aerial footage from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife helped find a California-born wolf in Southern Oregon.
According to ODFW, the wolf migrated to the Klamath and Lake County area in late 2020.
Video was taken from about 10,000 feet above using an Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife plane.
The infrared video camera was able to spot not only the California wolf, but it also spotted an Oregon-born one in the same location.
The use of GPS radio collars helped find the two wolves including the potential for a new den site.
“When wolves radio collars signals seem to localize in a particular areas for weeks at a time in the spring, that they’ve probably denned and they’ve probably given birth to pups,” senior wolf advocate for the Center of Biological Diversity Amaroq Weiss said.
Although the camera technology is not new, it’s typically used in anti-poaching operations, missing person searches, wildlife monitoring and much more.
The hope is that the combination of radio collars and infrared cameras will lead to more discoveries of wolf packs, as Oregon currently has 175 wolves in 21 packs.
© 2024 KOBI-TV NBC5. All rights reserved unless otherwise stated.