Oregon’s wandering wolf appears denned up for more pups

A gallery of photos of wolves, including OR-7, from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

MEDFORD, Ore. — State biologists say Oregon’s famous wandering wolf, OR-7, appears to be denned up for a second set of pups in the southern Cascades.

The Medford Mail Tribune reported Wednesday that OR-7’s satellite tracking collar has finally died, but Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists are still getting a faint signal from the radio portion of the collar.

They can track that with hand-held antennas, and the signal indicates OR-7’s pack has stopped moving around.

Biologist Mark Vargas says biologists won’t disturb the wolves to check for pups until the denning season ends.

OR-7 became famous as his GPS collar, put on in 2011, showed him trekking across Oregon and into Northern California in search of a mate, which he found. Their first pups arrived last year.