wolf_ap.jpeg

A gray wolf, pictured in Oregon in a file photo.

(AP photo)

The Nevada Department of Wildlife has confirmed the first sighting of a wolf in the state in nearly 100 years.

Chief State Game Warden Brian Wakeling said Friday the wolf was spotted in northwest Nevada in early November near Fox Mountain just west of the Black Rock Desert and about 20 miles from the California line.

Wakeling says wildlife officials recovered scat from the animal. A conservation lab at the University of Idaho confirmed the droppings were from a male offspring of a seven-member pack of wolves known as the "Shasta Pack" in Northern California.

Wakeling says the department occasionally receives reports of wolf sightings, but this is the first time one's presence has been verified since 1922.

He says the observation of a lone animal does not mean wolves have established territories in Nevada.

-- The Associated Press