Red wolves find life fine in Carolina
By JERRY ALLEGOOD, Staff Writer
The eerie howl of red wolves — a mournful song once silenced by fearful humans — is making a steady
comeback in northeastern North Carolina with a record number of pups
joining the chorus this year. Biologists with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service said at least 55 pups in 11 litters were born in the wild this
spring. In addition, two more puppies were released to foster parents who
accepted them in their litters.
That is the most successful breeding season since a project to
re-establish the endangered wolves in the wild began 17 years ago, said
Sarah Krueger, outreach coordinator with the Red Wolf Recovery program.
The recovery began with release of a mated pair in the Alligator River
National Wildlife Refuge in September 1987 and others later. Now there
about 100 adult animals roaming lowlands and forests in five counties.
The population is “greater than it ever has been,” Krueger said. “We’ve
seen a continual rise every year.”
Only about half the puppies are expected to survive, she said, but they
will make a significant increase in the nation’s only wild red wolf
population. About 150 red wolves live in captive populations in zoos or
research facilities around the country.
Red wolves freely roamed coastal North Carolina and the southeastern
United States when European settlers arrived in the 1500s but were
gradually eradicated by hunting and destruction of habitat. By 1980 they
were declared extinct in the wild.
Unlike larger timber wolves, the red wolf is about the size of a German
shepherd dog. They also resemble the dogs with their coats of gray- or
cinnamon-tinged fur. And contrary to the depiction of wolves in legends
and fairy tales as fearsome creatures, these wolves are shy animals that
are not considered a threat to humans.
The return of a predator to the wild was not universally welcomed. Critics
question whether red wolves are a pure breed and worthy of protection by
federal laws or the expense of the recovery program. And landowners in
northeastern North Carolina filed a federal lawsuit in an unsuccessful
challenge of federal regulations that prevented the killing or trapping of
wolves on private property.
The project drew strong support from wildlife groups that said the wolves
should be saved. The Tar Heel wolf packs have become a tourist attraction
for some who come to the refuge for a glimpse of the animals. The
Alligator River refuge and the Red Wolf Coalition, a group of private
program supporters, conduct weekly sessions in which dozens of people are
taken into the refuge to listen for the howls.
The programs will begin June 23 and run until September.
According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, a pair of female red wolf pups
recently was transferred from a captive facility on Bulls Island at Cape
Romain National Wildlife Refuge near Charleston, S.C., to North Carolina.
The 2-week-old sisters were selected for their rare genes and placed in
separate dens with wild red wolf pups of identical age. The captive-born
sisters were adopted by wild foster mothers, biologists said, and will
probably be raised within their respective packs.
In addition to the two new 2004 arrivals, the agency was able to measure
the success of a fostering attempt two years ago. Agency officials said
two pups from the N.C. Zoological Park, a male and a female, were adopted
by their wild foster mother and raised within the pack. During the
following spring of 2003, the two captive-born yearlings remained with
their adopted pack and helped raise a new litter of pups.
This spring, biologists said they hoped each of the zoo-born red wolves
would produce litters of their own.
The male zoo-born wolf, displaced from his adopted pack and forced to
establish a range of his own, was successful in securing a dominant
position of another established pack in time for breeding season.
Biologists are celebrating the discovery of a litter of eight puppies
fathered by the zoo-born male.
Will Waddell, coordinator of the agency’s captive breeding program, said
the captive breeding program and the free-ranging population are integral
aspects of the recovery.
“They still depend greatly on each other for the recovery of the species,”
he said in a news release.
In mid-April, biologists who track and monitor the wolves found that the
zoo-born female had died, apparently of complications with her pregnancy.
Krueger said red wolves will be able to maintain their range better as
numbers increase.
Many of the wolves in the recovery program die from natural causes or from
being hit by vehicles on highways where red wolf crossing signs are
posted. However, Krueger said, one of the original wolves released in
Alligator River refuge survived for 13 years.
“He was the longest-living wolf we’ve ever seen,” she said.