Current Numbers: 3
Pack Status: Active without pack status. Designated as a pack in 2019.
From 2014 to 2016, two wolves traveled throughout the northern portion of the Desolation Unit (Grant and Umatilla County), but they were never observed to reproduce. After March 2016, only one wolf was observed in the area.
In 2017, OR53, an adult male wolf, was collared in the Desolation Unit. He was documented with another wolf at the end of the year.
For 2018, OR53 traveled part of the year with a female collared wolf, but by the end of the year, she was seen with another wolf, and OR53 was traveling solo again.
The female wolf bred with the new male, and the new breeding pair raised three pups that survived to the end of 2019. They were officially designated as a pack in 2019.
The following year, the pack was counted as a breeding pair and produced at least three pups that survived through 2020.
In 2021, the Desolation Pack produced at least four pups that survived to the end of the year and was counted as a breeding pair, with a minimum of nine wolves in the pack.
In 2022, the pack produced at least four pups that survived to the end of the year and was counted as a breeding pair, with a minimum of eight wolves in the pack. A collared yearling male was found dead in July, with his cause of death unknown.
The pack produced at least two pups that survived until the end of 2023 and was counted as a breeding pair, with seven wolves in the pack.
In 2024, the breeding female of the pack was killed by a livestock producer while caught in the act of attacking cattle. The pack did not produce pups in 2024. At the end of the year, only three wolves remained in the pack territory, meaning they no longer meet the definition of a wolf pack in Oregon.
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