By Emery P. Dalesio
The Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C.
Conservationists are asking a federal judge to block North Carolina hunters from targeting coyotes in five counties where endangered red wolves are being shot and killed by mistake.
U.S. District Judge Terrance Boyle was scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday in Raleigh in a lawsuit over hunting in northeastern North Carolina near a wildlife refuge that’s home to the world’s only wild red wolves.
The state Wildlife Resources Commission last summer approved coyote hunting in the region where red wolves were reintroduced into the wild.
Coyotes and red wolves are similar looking and are easily confused. At least six red wolves out of a population of about 100 have been shot to death since the lawsuit was filed in October.