Red wolf prowls at NEW Zoo
Rufus arrives as part of breeding program to save species
By Tony Walter
NEW Zoo officials hope that Rufus, a new red wolf, will do his part to help save his species from extinction.
Rufus, who is 20 months old, arrived at the zoo Saturday from St. Louis, and will be joined shortly by a female red wolf from Tacoma, Wash. Both are part of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums Species Survival Program that hopes to save the red wolf from completely disappearing from the Earth.
The association estimates that there are only 186 captive red wolves in the world and no more than 133 still in the wild.
Neil Anderson, NEW Zoo director, said the breeding program sponsored by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is hoping that Rufus and the female red wolf will breed.
Maria Fisher, operations manager at the zoo, said it’s exciting for the zoo to play such an important role.
“He’s such an important animal to his species,” Fisher said. “There’s so few of them.”
The NEW Zoo is one of only 38 zoos and nature centers in 21 states participating in the national red wolf breeding program, Anderson said.
The return of the red wolf began more than 30 years ago when the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services captured 17 of them and began the extensive breeding program. The red wolf was reintroduced to the wild in North Carolina in 1987.
“I was shocked at how beautiful he is,” Fisher said, adding that there is a possibility the NEW Zoo would get to keep a wolf cub if Rufus and the female wolf breed. “We also noticed that Rufus doesn’t have a tail. He may have lost it when he was playing with his brothers and sisters.”