Wolves on westward prowl
Endangered red wolves’ chief threat to survival: Hybridization with
indigenous coyotes
JACK HORAN
Special Correspondent
MANTEO – A wall of wolves is moving westward across five northeastern N.C.
counties.
The wolves are red wolves, an endangered species. They’re not sprinting
along on attack, but are evicting coyotes. Coyotes, not man, pose the most
serious threat to the survival of the wolves in their only wild
population.
The threat is genetic. When wolves can’t find another wolf for a mate,
they’ll breed with their fellow canine, the coyote. The mating yields
wolf-coyote hybrids. Hybrids could doom the red wolf as a pure species in
the wild, leaving it only as a zoo animal.
Today, about 100 wolves roam 1.5 million acres of public and private lands
in the peninsula between the Albemarle and Pamlico sounds. Shy and
secretive, they live mostly under the radar of local people, preying on
rabbits, raccoons, nutria and deer. They are the only wild wolves east of
the Great Lakes and south of Canada.
Four years ago, when U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists began to
deal with the hybridization problem, wolves and coyotes populated much of
the five-county wolf recovery area. Both prowled prey-rich wetlands,
forests and farm fields.
Biologists came up with a strategy to replace pockets of coyotes with
mated pairs of wolves. They started by eliminating coyotes at Alligator
River National Wildlife Refuge, the wolves’ easternmost home.
“We’re building a wall of wolves west to the western boundary,” said Bud
Fazio, who oversees the red wolf recovery from his office in Manteo. The
boundary lies at the Beaufort and Washington county lines at the beginning
of the peninsula.
“To date, we can proudly say in terms of breeding pairs of wolves, (Dare,
Hyde and Tyrrell) are pretty much full of red wolves.”
That’s good news for the native wolf of the Southeast, a species that
lives on the edge.
In the early 1970s, the wolf almost vanished. Biologists removed 400
wolf-like animals from the wilds of coastal Louisiana and Texas, and found
14 pure red wolves.
They moved the 14 survivors to captivity, where they became the founding
fathers and mothers of the 263 wolves alive today. The figure includes 163
in captivity.
Extinct in the wild, the red wolf returned to North Carolina in 1987, when
the Fish and Wildlife Service introduced captive-bred animals into the
newly acquired Alligator River refuge. Biologists also released wolves in
nearby Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge after it was acquired in
1990.
Wolves spread onto adjacent private lands and, despite hostility from many
residents and poaching incidents, prospered and produced pups. The
population achieved true wildness in late 2001 when the last captive-bred
wolf, a 13-year-old male and the patriarch of the Milltail pack in the
Alligator River refuge, died. In 2002, two pups born at the N.C. Zoo near
Asheboro were given to wild foster parents to increase genetic diversity.
At the same time, coyotes began infiltrating from the west, partly because
of a natural migration across the state and partly because of illegal
imports from the West.
Fazio said red wolves, averaging 45-80 pounds, will mate with their own
kind when surrounded by other wolves. If no wolves are available, lone
wolves will mate with coyotes, averaging 30-55 pounds.
To eliminate coyotes and hybrids, Fazio and his staff identify, trap and
sterilize them. They’re released to hold a place in the wild until a wolf
family can replace them. So far, about 25 non-wolves have been removed and
euthanized.
Fazio seeks landowner permission when coyotes are on private land. He said
some landowners want neither coyotes nor wolves; others want wolves
because they kill raccoons and other predators of nests of quail and wild
turkey.
“Now, four years later, we can say `yes, hybridization and the threat of
coyotes can be effectively managed,’ ” Fazio said. He said wolf packs will
drive out newcomer coyotes and even kill them.
Fazio said he couldn’t predict how long it will take to make Beaufort and
Washington counties coyote-free. “We want the population to increase to
the extent,” he said, “that the five-county area can be filled with red
wolf breeding pairs.”
Red Wolf Facts
• About two-thirds of the 100 wild red wolves wear radio-signal collars so
biologists can keep track of them and, if necessary, capture them.• The
average pack consists of a breeding male and female, their yearling
offspring and pups.
• Last year, 21 wolves formed a pack in Hyde County, then split into two
packs.
• No attacks on people have been reported. The red wolf program lists 134
complaints since 1987, a figure that includes 58 sightings.
• Since 1987, 158 wolves have died: 43 from natural causes; 36 hit by
vehicles; 31 suspicious or illegal take; 32 from unknown causes.
• For more information, see www.redwolves.com.
Taking Refuge
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the national wildlife refuge
system. This is one in a series of profiles of Carolinas refuges. See
southeast.fws.gov.
ALLIGATOR RIVER NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
SIZE: 152,195 acres
LOCATION: Dare County between the Alligator River, Albemarle, Croatan and
Pamlico sounds
DISTANCE FROM CHARLOTTE: About 350 miles
YEAR CREATED: 1984
LANDSCAPE: Shrubby wetlands, hardwood swamps, marshes
DISTINCTIVE WILDLIFE: Red wolves, alligators, black bears
OFFICE: (252) 473-1131
POCOSIN LAKES NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
SIZE: 113,674 acres
LOCATION: Hyde, Tyrrell and Washington counties
DISTANCE FROM CHARLOTTE: About 320 miles
YEAR CREATED: 1990
LANDSCAPE: Shrubby wetlands, grassy fields, riverine swamp
DISTINCTIVE WILDLIFE: Red wolves, black bears, wintering waterfowl
OFFICE: (252) 796-3004