Red wolves get special treatment at museum
By Sam Lusk : The Herald-Sun
DURHAM — Sherry Samuels admits she didn’t know much about red wolves the
first time she saw them. She was just glad to be “part of a worthy cause.”
Today, it’s part of Samuels’ job to take care of that worthy cause: three
endangered red wolves housed at Durham’s Museum of Life and Science.
“The museum does whatever it takes for the betterment of the species,”
said Samuels, whose staff performs regular physicals, collects biological
samples and brings the animals inside when weather emergencies like
Hurricane Isabel strike.
The rest of the time, the wolves — a mother and her two sons — roam
their fenced-in enclosure, running to the chain link to inspect when
visitors stop by.
The wolves are named for the reddish-brown coloring behind their ears and
along their back. They are shorter than gray wolves and from a distance
look more like German shepherds.
And unlike their better-known cousins that travel in packs, red wolves
tend to travel in family units, “dad, mom and the kids,” Samuels said.
“Their color is not what attracts me,” said Kent Carter, an animal keeper
at the museum. “I’m amazed at how rare and special they are, and how I get
to help their species.”
On Sunday, the museum begins a week of activities marking National Wolf
Awareness Week. There will be daily educational talks and giveaways.
The red wolf once roamed from Florida to Pennsylvania to Texas. Hunters
killed so many of them that in the 1970s the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service captured the remaining ones it could find: just 14 wolves. In 1980
the red wolf was declared extinct in the wild.
To help bring the wolf back, the American Zoo and Aquarium Association
established a Species Survival Plan involving more than 35 institutions,
such as the Durham museum. The plan is working so well that the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service has been able to release pups born in captivity back
into the wild.
Today, there are more than 100 wild red wolves in northeastern North
Carolina. With the 160 wolves in captivity, there are 260 healthy wolves
around the nation.
Six pups were born at the Museum of Life and Science in April 2002. The
runt of the litter died, but two males and three females survived, with
the females sent to Oklahoma City for future breeding when they were old
enough.
“I was very excited when the pups came,” Carter recalled. “We all knew it
was going to happen, and we were just enjoying helping the endangered
species.”
On the Net:
www.redwolves.com
www.alligatorriver.fws.gov