Wolf Pups Emerge From Den at Oakland Zoo to Begin Goodwill Mission

After weeks of adjustment and growth, four 6-week-old gray wolf pups at the Oakland Zoo have left the den and started exploring their enclosure.

“They've become much more independent," said Alicia Powers, the senior zookeeper. "They are roaming away from the den a lot more, and at this point they've explored pretty much all of their two-acre habitat."

The zoo acquired the mother and father — Siskiyou and Sequoia — in April 2018 as part of their partnership with the California Wolf Center, an organization dedicated to increasing the state's wild wolf population.

The parents were both born in captivity, then relocated to a two-acre enclosure in the zoo's California Trail exhibit, a habitat for species native to California. The two are referred to as "ambassador animals" — tamer wolves meant to be good representatives of their species for visitor education.

When the pair arrived, zoo officials were hopeful the two wolves would bond and mate, forming a pack of their own, which according to the zoo, is "important to the emotional health of the wolves.”

Since Siskiyou was a first-time mother and is considered an older wolf, the zoo planned for potential complications. However, with careful monitoring, the pack has done well and is currently "thriving," according to zoo staff. None of the pups have yet been named.

The story of the animals is part of a larger, controversial effort to bring wild wolves back to California, where they once were plentiful. Zoo staff hope that visitors learn more about the wolves and help foster goodwill toward animals that humans have long had a conflicted feelings about.

In 1924, the last wild gray wolf in California was killed. There were no known wolves in California until 2011, when a lone wolf from Oregon entered Siskiyou County in search of new territory. According to Amaroq Weiss, a wolf specialist with the Center for Biological Diversity, there are only 10 to 12 wild wolves currently in California.

"The main enemy for wolves is really misinformation and fear," said Weiss. "And so the best way to overcome that is education and firsthand exposure to wolves."

Having a pack of ambassador wolves in the zoo is important for spreading knowledge and understanding, according to Powers, the zookeeper.

"The public makes a more personal connection with animals when they do get the opportunity to see them," she said. "What we at the Oakland Zoo, the Conservation Society of California, are really trying to do is educate guests on how to live with wildlife instead of this constant conflict, which is just going to continue."

In 2014, the California Fish and Game Commission granted the gray wolf protection under the state's Endangered Species Act, an action quickly challenged in court by the Pacific Legal Foundation, the California Farm Bureau Federation and the California Cattlemen's Association. The groups argued that an unchecked population of wolves would kill deer and threaten cattle herds.

But in January, a San Diego judge ruled against the farmers and ranchers, determining that the law protected any wolf in California, including those who have wandered in from neighboring states.

Some farmers and ranchers believe that wolf populations have bounced back, obviating the need for continued state or federal protections. In fact, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is moving forward with a plan to take the gray wolf off the federal Endangered Species List. In a statement last March, the American Farm Bureau Federation said delisting the wolf from the endangered species list is "a triumph of common sense we all should herald as a conservation success story."