Red wolf litter may be on way
By Associated Press
January 28, 2003
CHATTANOOGA — The Chattanooga Nature Center, recently designated as a breeding facility for the endangered red wolf, may have a new litter on the way soon.
Will Waddell, coordinator of the Red Wolf Species Survival Plan at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Washington state, said the Nature Center was picked as a breeding facility after a lengthy application review. Waddell said the Nature Center’s close proximity to an urban area, and the fact that people have easy access to visit and learn about red wolves, were factors in its selection.
“Their enclosure tucked back in the woods is quite nice, and they’ve done a good job at maintaining care for other wolves who have passed through there,” he said.
A male red wolf was brought from Kentucky last week and released into a large enclosure with a female red wolf who has been at the Nature Center for 10 years, said Steve O’Neil, executive director. Her companion, another male, was considered too closely related to her for breeding and was put in a separate area to prevent competition between the males, O’Neil said.
“It is truly exciting to be part of a program that puts a once-extinct animal back into the wild,” said Debbie Lipsey, director of wildlife at the Nature Center.
In 1973, only 14 red wolves were found in the wild, according to Waddell. He said there now are more than 150 wolves in the captive population and 100 more that have been released in northeastern North Carolina and at two locations off the coasts of South Carolina and Florida.
The goal of breeding facilities such as the Nature Center is to “bring recovery to the point where there is a stable population living in the wild,” Waddell said.