OR-7 back on grid after eluding satellite

Richard Shinn | California Department of Fish an

This May 8, 2012 photo provided by the California Department of Fish and Game shows OR-7, the Oregon wolf that has trekked across two states looking for a mate, on a sagebrush hillside in Modoc County, Calif. A California Department of Fish and Game biologist took this photo while out visiting ranchers in the area. After five days off the grid, OR-7's GPS tracking collar downloaded a location Friday, Sept. 28, 2012, in remote western Plumas County, Califl., allaying fears something might have happened to him. Meanwhile, a public hearing is scheduled Wednesday in Sacramento, Calif., on whethger to list gray wolves as a state endangered species. (AP Photo/Richard Shinn/California Department of Fish and Game)

CHILCOOT, Calif. (AP) — Oregon’s famous wandering wolf was back on the grid Friday after escaping satellite surveillance for five straight days, allaying fears something might have happened to him. But OR-7 eluded biologists trying to get a look at him up close and personal on Thursday in the wilds of Northern California, where he has been searching for a mate since last winter. Karen Kovacs of the California Department of Fish and Game said she and other biologists found a wolf track in the dirt when they went looking for OR-7 in steep, timbered country on the Plumas National …