Los Angeles County just got a very rare visitor: a gray wolf. Biologists confirmed the sighting over the weekend, marking the first time a wolf has been documented in the area in over a century. It’s a big deal, considering these animals were hunted to near extinction in California.
A Lone Wolf’s Epic Journey
The female wolf, known as BEY03F, traveled an estimated 125 miles from Tulare County, and likely 500 miles in the past year, in search of a mate.
- Gray wolves were hunted to extinction in California by 1922.
- BEY03F is a 3-year-old female currently traveling through Kern County.
- Her journey highlights the challenges wolves face in a fragmented landscape.
- Wildlife officials are hopeful she’ll find a mate and contribute to the species’ recovery.
“I am rooting for her,” said Beth Pratt, the California regional director of the National Wildlife Federation. “It is a hard go for a wolf in urbanized areas, because of the roads and development. But she has some gumption.”
Q: How far has this wolf traveled?
A: BEY03F has traveled at least 125 miles from Tulare County, but experts believe she’s covered around 500 miles in the last year, actively searching for a partner.
The wolf, code-named BEY03F, is equipped with a tracking collar fitted by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) in May 2025. Data from the collar showed she was north of Santa Clarita in the San Gabriel Mountains on Saturday, February 7, 2026, before moving north into Kern County on Monday, February 9, 2026.
A History of Absence and Return
This isn’t the first attempt at a comeback. In November 2021, a wolf named OR-93 traveled south from Oregon, reaching the edge of L.A. County before being fatally struck by a vehicle on the 5 Freeway in Kern County – the same area where BEY03F is currently located. Wolves were hunted out of California by 1922, with the last confirmed sighting in San Bernardino County, according to Axel Hunnicutt, the state gray wolf coordinator for the CDFW.
Wolves began to be reintroduced in 2011, with arrivals from Oregon. By 2014, they gained protected status, prohibiting hunting. Currently, there are approximately 60 gray wolves in the state.
The challenges facing these animals are significant. Like mountain lions, vehicle collisions are the leading cause of death for gray wolves, CDFW officials confirmed. BEY03F appears to be navigating around major freeways, sticking to areas with more green space, Pratt noted.
John Marchwick, 22, a writer with California Wolf Watch and a wildlife management student at California State Polytechnic University at Humboldt, emphasized that wolves are generally not a threat to humans. “They are much more afraid of you,” he said. “They don’t want to be near people.”
BEY03F, weighing around 80 pounds and measuring about 5 feet long, is in the midst of breeding season, making the search for a mate a natural behavior, Hunnicutt explained. While her movements are unpredictable, officials are monitoring her collar signals daily, hoping for the best.
“I worry about where she ends up. I would never perceive to know the mind of a wolf,” Hunnicutt said.
