Milla Eyre, a 13 year old at La Grande Middle School (right), has one of the top five entries in Oregon Wilds contest to name the grey wold currently designated OR 7. Millas mom, Carrie Ann (at left), says the contest has sparked some lively family talks about wolves. BILL RAUTENSTRAUCH / The Observer

Current events class inspires La Grande middle schooler to enter wolf-naming contest

Love wolves or hate them, you’ve got to admit OR-7 isn’t much of a name. It’s cold and bureaucratic. It sounds like something you’d call an inmate in a penitentiary.

When Milla Eyre, a 13-year-old student at La Grande Middle School, heard about the contest to give OR-7 – the wandering Oregon wolf that’s captured the attention of the entire world – a more resounding and memorable name, she felt she had to enter.

The beast’s story fired her young imagination.

“I really like wolves,” Eyre said. “I think they’re cool and look pretty. It would be nice to have them back in Oregon.”

OR-7 started a long, lonely trek southward from Wallowa County in early September, grabbing headlines all along the way. His every move has been chronicled in print and broadcast media, and all over the Internet.

He’s currently near the California border, a fact that’s sent writers into a frenzy. The last grey wolf in California was killed in 1924, and speculation runs rampant that the former Wallowa County wild thing may slip across the border and start a whole new population.

Eyre said she didn’t know much about OR-7 until talk turned to him in her current events class. That’s when she heard about Oregon Wild’s contest to give the wolf a real name.

The kid did her homework. She found out the Latin word for wolf is “Lupus,” and also that lupine, a kind of flower, grow in forests where wolves live. Those facts gave her the name “Lupin” that she entered in the contest.

“She came up it with by herself. I helped her with the email, but she instigated it all,” said Milla’s mother, Carrie Ann Eyre.

About 250 children submitted entries. When Oregon Wild announced the top five last week, Milla Eyre was pleasantly surprised to hear she was among them.

Currently, her entry is in third place in the voting on the conservation group’s Oregon Wolves Facebook page. Voting remains open until the end of the calendar year.

“I was really excited that it was good enough to be in the top five,” Milla said.

Others solidly in the running include a boy from Finland, who suggested the name Arthur. A girl from North Clackamas is in the running with the name Max. A 7-year-old from Mountain Home and an 11-year-old from North Dakota both suggested Journey, and a 14-year-old from Oklahoma came up with Takota.

Oregon Wild will name the winner Jan. 2. Milla Eyre is calm about the whole thing, and leaves the impression that she’d like to win but will accept whatever decision is made with grace.

“I would be amazed and real excited if they named the wolf Lupin,” she said.

Milla said she has never seen a wolf except in pictures, but would love to see one for real.

While she supports reintroduction, she said she understands the concerns of people who don’t.

“Some people don’t want them because they kill cattle, and I would be more opposed to them if I owned a ranch, or if hunters weren’t going to kill the food wolves eat,” she said.

Carrie Ann Eyre said Milla’s entry into the contest has sparked some lively family talk about wolves. That’s a good thing, and so is the fact that her daughter achieved a little something by entering a name.

“It’s always fun when your kids try for something and get noticed,” Carrie Ann said.