Red wolves court battle reignites as governor urges action

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By JONATHAN DREW

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The fight over the critically endangered red wolf has returned to court as North Carolina’s governor sought immediate help for the dozen or so remaining in the wild and federal biologists planned to transfer wolves into the recovery area for the first time in years.

In late November, Gov. Roy Cooper sent the secretary of the interior a sharply worded letter warning that, with no more than 14 known wolves in the wild, “the American red wolf is on the brink of extinction.” He noted that in 2019, no litters of red wolf pups were born in the wild for the first time in the history of the reintroduction program.

Red wolves once occupied much of the Eastern U.S. but were driven to near extinction by trapping, hunting and habitat loss before they were reintroduced to North Carolina in 1987. Their range is limited to five North Carolina counties. Another 200 live in captive breeding programs.

Cooper wrote in the Nov. 22 letter that “changes in management strategies over the last several years have diminished the wild population to a dangerous level. This population decline has occurred despite the availability of proven conservation strategies, such as coyote sterilization and captive wolf reintroductions.”



FILE - In a Monday, May 13, 2019 file photo, a red wolf roams its habitat at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, N.C. Wildlife advocates have returned to court to prod the federal government to jump-start recovery efforts for the critically endangered red wolf, while North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper issued a sharply worded letter urging further action. Amid the pressure, federal biologists plan to transfer wolves from elsewhere into the recovery area for the first time in years to promote wild breeding. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome, File)


Read more: https://apnews.com/d8a127176390cecf79b7d2b3b8893046

[rwsanders]

1. This is major news because there is a sane governor speaking out in FAVOR of wolves!

But so few left. Sad beyond words

[Judi Lynn]

6. I would hope it means he has already rejected attempts to buy him from ranchers, hunters, etc.

Hoping they will back away and not come at him from a harsher angle.

What a marvel it is when a politician is discovered who hasn't sold him/herself.

[wendyb-NC]

2. Thanks to Gov. Cooper

My hope of hopes is that they will recover. Such a tragedy to let these native canids go extinct.

[bucolic_frolic]

3. I think it's a never ending expansion of deep 'burbs problem

People don't want to live in cities anymore. Everyone wants to live in a new house in the woods, then wants all the amenities of suburban shopping, and doesn't want animals other then their dog and cat around the house. Habitat depletion in other words.

[Red Mountain]

4. I'm not sure it's within our power

to maintain a pure wild breeding stock. The coyotes are everywhere. And the part of NC the red wolves call home is both very rural and difficult to access.

Coyotes seem to be the genetic winners here. And they're not what they call coyotes out west. Lots of grey wolf genes and behaviors.


Am I wrong?

[Haggis for Breakfast]

8. No, you are correct.

The inbreeding of coyotes and wolves has made it very difficult to obtain a pure genetic for the Red Wolf. Out here in Washington State, Wolf Haven International in Tenino, WA, has been one of the programs working on re-building the Red Wolf genetic. For those interested, I would suggest you GOOGLE them.

The same genetic problem existed with the Mexican Gray Wolf Program. Because of massive inbreeding between wolves, coyotes and dogs, it took years of exploring and testing for the pure Mexican Gray genetic to be isolated, but they finally narrowed it down to 45 animals and from that pure stock, they began that program about 10-15 years ago. Quite successful.

But, I think you're right, Red Mountain, that the coyote will the genetic winner in time.

[rwsanders]

11. I read in Discover magazine within the last couple of years that wolves were domesticated more than

once. If I remember correctly in Asia and Eastern Europe about 14,000 and then 10,000 years ago, but there has never been complete separation. Dogs carry genetic evidence of periodic crosses with wolves, but the thing that surprised me is that wolves carry evidence of crossing with dogs. But the article didn't mention coyotes at all.
Kind of like the story between us and the Neanderthals and Denosovians.

[Demonaut]

5. is the red wolf a distinct species?, I thought it was a cross between a coyote and gray wolf

[pazzyanne]

7. Good information on the red wolf can be found at the link below.

https://defenders.org/wildlife/red-wolf

[rwsanders]

10. It was a cross, but not recently.

So all of the red wolves are of the same distinct genetic stock rather than being hybrids of wolves and coyotes that would occur randomly. If I remember correctly it is from a cross that occurred thousands of years ago.
It did make recovery efforts challenging from a legal perspective, but it is recognized as a species.

[Bayard]

9. Only Dems care about endangered species

Kudos to Gov. Roy Cooper for standing up.