Last wolf leaves Bulls Island
The Associated Press
It took some time to trap him, but the last red wolf on Bulls Island has been captured.
The 10-year-old wolf’s captured signaled the end of 18 years of the first wild breeding program for the endangered animal. It has been replaced by more economical foster breeding program at the Alligator River wildlife refuge in North Carolina.
The wolf will remain at the Awendaw Center where three other red wolves are kept. Biologists considered the stealthy animal, about the size of the German shepherd it resembles, to be extinct in the wild in 1980.
The breeding program began at Cape Romain because no one else wanted the animal, which was considered a menace, said former refuge manager George Garris.
The breeding effort has been successful. On Bulls Island, 26 pups were born with few deaths. Most have been relocated to the Alligator River refuge, the only viable release area among a handful where reintroduction was attempted.
In 2005, a record 55 pups were born at Alligator River, bringing the estimated total species population to 300.
“It’s sad. You go out on the island and you’re not looking for wolf tracks. They’re not there, but that’s not to say they won’t be,” said park ranger Patricia Lynch. “I’m hoping the breeding program at Bulls Island will kick back in, that down the road we can have another site.”
Collecting the lone remaining wolf was a bit of an adventure.
He escaped the kennel twice, but remained in a larger holding area. On Tuesday, four workers boated out to collar him with a rope pole. With his neck in the collar, the wolf dragged U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologist Sarah Dawsey halfway across the enclosure.
“He’s a wiry animal. He was bucking and just was not a happy camper,” said park ranger Larry Davis.