An Opportunity to Release Red Wolves into the Wild

A pair of captive red wolves behind Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge Red Wolf Education and Health Care Facility.  

The Department of the Interior recently proposed a plan that would allow private landowners in North Carolina to kill red wolves that stray onto their property from Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. The proposal was presented last week by U.S Fish and Wildlife officials at a news conference, who stated that the wildlife refuge would be the only safe place for the red wolves. According to Leopoldo Miranda, assistant director for ecological services in the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service's Southeast region, the goal would be to effectively manage a small population of 10-15 wolves at the wildlife refuge to conserve their genetic value and wild behaviors in hopes that a more proper location outside eastern North Carolina can be found to relocate the wolves. Although he refused to name areas in consideration, Mr. Miranda added that the process of finding an area and guaranteeing an agreement to relocate wolves would probably take three years. The proposal has inflamed anger amongst conservationists who have long argued that the Interior's management of red wolves in recent years deceived the mission to protect them. A public meeting is scheduled for July 10 in Manteo and a public comment period beginning Wednesday will finish at the end of August. If the proposal goes into effect in November, up to 24 red wolves outside Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge would be left to fend for themselves or likely be shot legally by hostile landowners. Two years ago, before a federal court halted the Fish and Wildlife Service from distributing permits to shoot red wolves, the agency received about 400 from property owners to kill them.

Red wolf

I can never think of anything more miserable and cruel than a proposal that would further bring the red wolf towards extinction. But what really frustrates me is that there are more red wolves in captivity (200 to be exact) than there are in the wild. What is taking so long to reintroduce the vast majority of captive wolves back into the wild? Is the federal government calling all the shots when it comes to conservation of America's wildlife, especially of critically endangered species like red wolves? Two years ago, conservation groups sent a petition with half a million names demanding the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service to do more to save the wolves. But there still has not been any change. I urge the Department of the Interior to reconsider its proposal about red wolf management in North Carolina and allow for the reintroduction of red wolves in protected areas throughout North Carolina and other parts of the Southeastern U.S. I also urge that private landowners in North Carolina be educated about the importance of saving red wolves and why shooting them in cold blood will not make a change for the better. Furthermore, I urge the Fish and Wildlife Service to take the petition filed by conservation groups into consideration and act upon it. If no such action is taken, then the current generation of American people will end up seeing the red wolf rapidly fade into history and the next generation will never see a single red wolf roaming freely in the wilds of the South. The red wolf is part of America's wild and natural heritage and in order ensure it stays that way, it should be protected by any means necessary.

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