Natural Highlights: The Red Wolf
Where are the wolves of the Wolf River? Sadly, no longer here.
The names of both our river and our organization memorialize a species which once roamed widely throughout the Southeast, and was especially fond of bottomland hardwood forest habitats, according to some scientists. The Red Wolf (Canis rufus) is one of two U.S. wolf species recognized by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, along with the Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) found out west and in some northern states. The Red Wolf is smaller than the Gray Wolf but larger than a Coyote (Canis latrans), with long gangly legs and often a reddish tinge to its fur. It is also the most endangered canine species on the planet.
What happened? Besides habitat loss and fragmentation from a growing population in the early years of the country, intense persecution of predator species, especially through government predator control programs in the early 20thcentury, decimated wolf populations. By 1970, the remaining Red Wolves were restricted to western Louisiana and the coast of east Texas, and in 1980 the last 14 wild Red Wolves were trapped in order to start a captive breeding population at Pt. Defiance Zoo in Tacoma, Washington.
There are now fewer than 20 red wolves left in the wild, all located in 5 counties in North Carolina which include the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge on the Albemarle Peninsula. This small, experimental population, established in 1990 from released captives, has struggled over the decades, challenged mainly by mortality from vehicle strikes and gunshots. Managers and scientists were elated by the birth of 8 pups in the wild in 2024, only to be devastated when the pup’s father was killed by a car later that year, leaving the female unable to care for the litter alone. An effort to reintroduce Red Wolves to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park began in 1991, only to be terminated in 1998 for several reasons, but mainly because the park wasn’t large enough to provide enough food for pup survival.
Fortunately, there are 270 red wolves in 50 zoos and sanctuaries throughout the U.S. where a cooperative breeding program carefully manages the captive population for genetic diversity. Conservation organizations are still committed to establishing a self-sustaining wild population. Private funds were raised recently to secure a large federal grant to build several wildlife underpasses along an especially deadly stretch of road through the Alligator River Refuge, though the status of the grant is now uncertain. There is also an effort to sterilize coyotes in surrounding areas to reduce hybridization with wolves. Apparently, wild Red Wolf genes persist in some coyotes in the western Louisiana/east Texas area, the last stronghold for wild Red Wolves. These genes may perhaps prove useful in Red Wolf breeding programs and in species recovery.
When paddling the Ghost River section of the Wolf River, we now can only imagine hearing the calls of Ivory-billed Woodpeckers, also gone from this area and probably extinct, and the howls of Red Wolves, which are still hanging on in a small corner of the wild far to the east. The name of our river is a reminder that if we don’t take care of our native wildlife and our other natural resources, we can lose them.
Though the Red Wolf no longer roams the bottomland hardwood forests of the Mid South, the conservation work of the Wolf River Conservancy and the protection of wild natural habitat like the Ghost River State Natural Area helps to ensure that all of the species which currently enrich our lives here - the songbirds, the river otters, the foxes and frogs - will remain abundant long into the future.
Here are several links to more information on the Red Wolf:
https://nywolf.org/learn/red-wolf/
The wolves of the Wolf River are gone, once thriving in bottomland hardwood forests of the Southeast. Now, they are the most endangered canine species on Earth.
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