Efforts to save critically endangered red wolves are showing some optimistic signs of success.
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Today, wildlife experts working to save critically endangered red wolves are cautiously optimistic. Efforts to rebuild the wolf pack have been slow, but after several years of setbacks, they may be heading in the right direction. Elizabeth Friend reports from member station WUNC in Raleigh.
ELIZABETH FRIEND, BYLINE: A group of veterinary school students make the trek to a secluded spot on the North Carolina State University campus twice a day to care for several red wolves.
(clip of wolf howling)
Friends: On rare occasions, they’ll see wolves howling at emergency sirens or local coyotes, like this video recorded last year. But on such a hot day, the wolves were quiet. The pack consists of five adult dogs and, since this spring, several puppies. They are the first litter of wolves born here since 2019. The location is secret to protect them from harassment and to keep them as wild as possible.
Sean Hubbard: We try to minimize the contact between these wolves and humans. On a regular shift when we are out feeding, the most we see of them is two.
Friend: This is Sean Hubbard, co-chair of the Canine Protection Group. Groups of student volunteers are responsible for caring for some of the world’s most endangered wolves. Hubbard said red wolves used to roam throughout the southeastern United States from New York to Florida.
Hubbard: But when the Europeans came, they were almost hunted to extinction, just like the gray wolves. By the 1970s, only a few dozen individuals remained that could be identified as red wolves.
Friends: Starting with just 14 red wolves, biologists launched a captive breeding program in an attempt to save a species that was declared extinct in the wild in 1980. North Carolina’s wolves are part of a nationwide effort to increase wolf populations and reintroduce the species into the wild. A student scooped up whole grains and ate them. The red and gray wolf quietly appeared from the woods.
Hubbard: They’re very good at hiding. These coats are perfect for the woodlands in our area.
Friends: Puppies born here are part of the baby boom. In the past two years, captive breeding programs across the country have produced nearly a hundred new offspring. This is a big deal. These new wolves will help maintain the survival of the species. The ultimate goal is to return as many animals as possible to the wild.
Joe Madison: We don’t have your typical big tracts of pristine, unspoilt wilderness.
Friend: This is Joe Madison of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He manages the red wolf population in a five-county region of eastern North Carolina, the only place in the world where red wolves still roam free. The backcountry is a mix of swamps, fields, and forests.
Madison: Red wolves tend to live in open farmland or open areas because that’s where most of the prey density is.
Friend: Madison estimates there are currently only 16 adult wild wolves in eastern North Carolina. But they are a young group and they do have children. Still, they’re always at risk of being hit by a car or mistaken for a coyote, which is slightly smaller and can be hunted legally. Madison said they try to communicate with those who live near wolf territory.
Madison: People don’t need to love Red Wolf. It’s more about getting people to tolerate their presence in their areas, you know?
Friends: The success of captive breeding programs and the small but significant growth of wild populations is giving new hope for the future of the species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has developed a new long-term plan that, if feasible, could remove red wolves from the federal endangered species list in about 50 years. For NPR News, I’m Elizabeth Friend in Raleigh, North Carolina.
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