Female wolf seeking mate and a home range has been spotted in Sequoia National Park
About a century after the species was driven out of the state, a gray wolf has been tracked to Sequoia National Park.
The wolf — a three-year-old female — initially entered the park on Sunday morning, California Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Krysten Kellum said.
According to a mapping system operated by the CDFW, the wolf was still in the park as of Monday afternoon.
Kellum said the wolf was first spotted in eastern Tulare County in April 2025 before she was collared a month later. The wolf was tracked to Los Angeles County in February 2026, and she was eventually spotted traveling through Mono and Inyo counties before returning to Tulare County.
“The wolf is looking for a mate and looking to establish her own home range,” Kellum said.
Born to a pack based in Sierra and Plumas counties, the wolf is believed to have integrated into the Yowlumni Pack, which was first discovered in Sequoia National Forest in 2023, Kellum said.
Kellum said the wilderness areas in and around Sequoia would be an ideal environment for wolves to settle, as they’re away from human populations and have abundant prey.
The CDFW launched a new mapping system last year to show the location of GPS-collared gray wolves. The system was introduced to help minimize conflicts between gray wolves, which were driven out of the state in the 1920s, and livestock ranchers.
In 2011, a male from Oregon was the first wild gray wolf confirmed to re-enter the state, and the first confirmed pack to repopulate the state was spotted in 2015 via GPS tracking.
Since then, some packs have sprung up mostly in the northern portion of the state, though a couple have dispersed farther south, Kellum said — including a wolf that traveled from Oregon all the way down to San Luis Obispo County before being killed by a car in 2021.
This story was originally published May 18, 2026 at 4:57 PM with the headline "Female wolf seeking mate and a home range has been spotted in Sequoia National Park."
