From staff reports
Thursday, the Salisbury Zoo’s new female red wolf, Shiloh, was introduced to its male, Scout, in their enclosure. Seven-year-old Shiloh came to the zoo from the Roger Williams Park in Rhode Island. Shiloh was chosen to come to the Salisbury Zoo because she was a good genetic match with the zoo’s 9-year-old male.
The red wolf is an endangered species that once was classified as extinct in the wild. The Salisbury Zoo is one of 44 zoos and wildlife centers that participate in a captive breeding program with almost 200 wolves.
Through this program, zoos help to maintain healthy and genetically diverse animal populations within the zoo community. With this breeding program, the hope is some may be reintroduced into the wild. Today there are only 12 red wolves left in their natural habitat of North Carolina.
Shiloh is the Salisbury Zoo’s 7-year-old red wolf (Photo: Submitted image by Dudley Bowman)