The red wolf is one of two wolf species in North America. They are disappearing fast. Red Wolf populations started decreasing in the 1960s due to the intensive predator control programs and their habitat disappearing.  This was also complicated with range issues where the coyote began to cross breed with the wolves, thus alternating the gene pool.  They were finally declared an endangered species roughly ten years later. Only seventeen remaining wolves were captured and only fourteen of those individuals turned out to be real red wolves and were entered into the breeding program.

US Fish and Wildlife Service declared then extinct in the wild in 1980. The Red Wolf Recovery Plan was then put in place.  In 1987 wolves were released in northeastern North Carolina and now roam over 560,000 acres that includes the national bombing range and some live on private land.  New breeding programs are helping their numbers slowly increase.

At the Red Wolves five year review, they stated 'the Red Wolf will remain on the ESA as endangered'.  The re-estabilished populations are being monitored in the wild or live in approved facilities.

It is currently a challenge for our Gray Wolves out in the Northern Rockies and in Alaska.  Please give the Red Wolf's plight more consideration and a great deal more thought, as it is a living example of what can happen to other species.  Can you imagine the Rockies or Alaska without the Wolf?  It is our hope that North America doesn't loose these two species of wolves that called it home. 

You can help.  Get involved and know the facts about wildlife.  They are members of a circle we must not break because we do not know the impact it will have on our own futures.