SAN FRANCISCO— The California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced late Thursday that a wolf family in the Giant Sequoia National Monument will be officially known as the Yowlumni pack, after the Yowlumni band of the Tule River Yokuts Tribe.

The pack was discovered late this summer living near the Tule River Tribe Reservation. The department and Tribal members coordinated efforts to honor the cultural significance of wolves in the region. A Tule River tribal elder shared that the language of the Yowlumni people was known by its speakers as the “Wolf Tongue.”

“I’m grateful to the Tule River Tribe for their gift in naming this wolf family,” said Amaroq Weiss, a senior wolf advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s a beautiful reminder that wolves and Indigenous people once shared the landscape here. The wolves’ return to this region marks a multi-thousand-year heritage of wolves and people coexisting.”

The Yowlumni pack is the eighth known family of wolves to have become established in California since wolves started to return to the state on their own in late 2011. The pack was discovered by forest ecologists working in the Sequoia National Forest. Seven confirmed packs now live in the state, and most reside in northeastern California. The Yowlumni pack’s territory is the farthest south in California of any confirmed pack in modern history.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife’s announcement also said that after a months-long effort, staffers were recently able to capture and radio-collar the pack’s breeding female. That enables the department to track her movements.

DNA-testing of scat from the breeding female and breeding male of this wolf family revealed that she is a direct descendant of the first wolf to come to California in 2011. Her mate was born in the 2020 litter of a northern California pack, the Lassen pack. The department estimates the female to be around 7-8 years old, based on the condition of her teeth and other physical features. The department’s announcement also revealed the pack has six pups.

“It’s such a blessing to have these imperiled animals return to their former homelands,” said Weiss. “The protection of wolves under the federal Endangered Species Act has allowed this homecoming story to unfold in California. We howl with joy at the presence of the Yowlumni wolf family.”

Background

The first wolf in nearly a century to make California part of his range was OR-7, a radio-collared wolf from Oregon that entered California in late 2011. OR-7 traveled across seven northeastern counties in California before returning to southwestern Oregon, where he found a mate and settled down, forming the Rogue pack.

Several of OR-7’s offspring have since come to California and established packs, including the breeding female of the new Yowlumni pack.

The Shasta pack, California’s first confirmed wolf pack in nearly 100 years, was discovered in 2015 but disappeared a few months later. The seven known existing packs were confirmed between 2017-2023.

The gray wolf (Canis lupus) is native to California but was wiped out in the state by the mid-1920s. After OR-7 left Oregon for California, the Center and allies successfully petitioned the state to fully protect wolves under California’s endangered species act. Wolves are also federally protected in California under the federal Endangered Species Act. It is illegal to intentionally kill any wolves in the state.