Just seventy miles from Los Padres National Forest, wolves are gaining a foothold—or should we say “pawhold”—in the southern Sierra Nevada. Here, amidst giant trees and chaparral-covered slopes, California’s southernmost wolf pack is part of remarkable comeback story for wolves across the state and throughout the West.
Currently estimated at more than a dozen wolves, the Yowlumni Pack received its name from the Tule River Tribe in honor of the Yowlumni band of the Tule River Yokuts. The pack’s home range extends across 300 square miles of the tribe’s ancestral lands within the Tule River Reservation and the adjacent Giant Sequoia National Monument in Tulare County. It’s the first pack in this region in nearly a century, after wolves disappeared completely from California in the early 1900s, victims of overhunting and state-sponsored eradication programs.
With this new pack firmly established in the southern Sierra, more wolves are beginning to disperse throughout our region. Earlier this year, state biologists confirmed the presence of two wolves in the eastern Tehachapi Mountains in Kern County. In February, a black wolf was spotted, and in June, a second wolf—gray in color—was confirmed. These wolves may be dispersing from the Yowlumni Pack or could be long-distance travelers from packs further north. While their current whereabouts are unknown, it’s only a matter of time before wolves make their way to the Los Padres backcountry, where they once roamed and howled for millennia.
The Origins of the Yowlumni Pack
The gray wolf is native to California and was historically found throughout the state. But by the mid-1920s, hunting and state-sponsored eradication programs drove the state’s wolves to extinction.
In 2011, an unexpected journey turned into what is now hailed as a remarkable comeback and success story. That year, a male gray wolf named OR-7 (and commonly called Journey) dispersed from Oregon’s Imnaha pack and crossed the border into California. He would eventually return to Oregon, but some of his siblings would come to California and form the Shasta Pack. The Shasta Pack—first detected 2015—was California’s first wolf pack in over 90 years.
In the ensuing years, several additional wolf packs established themselves in northern California. But then, in 2023, something even more remarkable happened: state biologists received sightings and images of wolves in the foothills of Tulare County from both the public and environmental consultants working in the area. The Yowlumni pack was confirmed.
Biologists were expecting a gradual movement of packs to the southern part of the state, but the Yowlumni’s home range was more than 200 miles from the closes pack to the north. The Yowlumni consists of breeding male LAS24M (from the Lassen pack) and breeding female YOW01F (a direct descendant of OR-7, that first wolf to enter California in modern times). It had litters in 2023 (six pups) and 2024 (seven pups), but not in 2025.
A Canine Comeback
The establishment of the Yowlumni Pack, along with this year’s dispersing wolves into Kern County, are part of a success story that is beginning to emerge throughout the state as wolves return to their historic range. In May, three new wolf packs emerged in California, bringing the state’s total number of wolves to 50-70 individuals. The new packs are all located in northern California, meaning that the Yowlumni Pack remains the southernmost pack of wolves in California.
Biologists continue to study the pack, monitoring its movement using trail cameras, surveys in the field, and collection of genetic data from fur and scat. They’ve also attached radio collars to four wolves in the pack. The collars help track the animals’ movements to better understand the behavior of the pack, and as tools as biologists help rural landowners avoid conflicts with wolves.
New Challenges
The pack did not produce a litter this year. A mange outbreak has afflicted the Yowlumni pack, and some reports suggest that the breeding female is suffering from a severe case of this highly contagious skin infection that makes wolves scratch and lose fur.
Sadly, in spring 2025, the two collared wolves from the pack’s 2023 litter died. State officials are investigating the cause of death.
The Legacy of Wolf OR-93
The struggles and success of the Yowlumni wolves reflect another chapter in the return of wolves to central and southern California. In 2021, an Oregon-born male wolf called OR-93 entered California and embarked on a famed journey, traversing across more than one thousand miles of the state (including Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties) before eventually finding himself in Los Padres National Forest around the Kern-Ventura county line. Sadly, on November 10, 2021, OR93 succumbed to a vehicle strike on Interstate 5 near the town of Lebec in Kern County. His amazing journey inspired many, and he remains a symbol of hope for restoring wolves to our region and ensuring that they can roam safely across the landscape.
Public Asked to Report Sightings
For now, biologists continue to monitor the Yowlumni and other packs and dispersing wolves across the state. To help with these efforts, the California Department of Fish & Wildlife collects reports of wolf sightings. The public can report wolf sightings online here.
Wolves are protected under state and federal law. It is illegal to intentionally kill any wolves in California.
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