KEYWORDS: Red wolves released into the wild red wolf pups picture red wolf pictures red wolf reintroduction program foster captive–born red wolf pups into the wild U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Red Wolf Recovery Program Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge wild wolf reintroduction Red Wolf Species Survival Plan (SSP) North Carolina Zoological Park America’s National Wildlife Refuge System Endangered Species Act
Wolf Community
AUTHOR: Shauna Baron, USFWS Red Wolf Recovery Program
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proud to announce initial success in an attempt to foster captive–born red wolf pups into the wild. Two pups inserted into a wild wolf den earlier this year, have been confirmed to be alive and well. This success marks new potential for fostering as an effective tool in red wolf recovery.
In May of this year, the North Carolina Zoological Park donated two red wolf pups to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Red Wolf Recovery Program to help foster the captive-born pups into the world’s only wild red wolf population. The two-week-old siblings, one male and one female, were transferred to the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, and later inserted into the den of a wild wolf female.
The adult female, who was already raising two wild pups, accepted the two zoo-pups as her own, and went about the daily business of raising a litter of four pups of similar age. Throughout the summer, red wolf biologists monitored the pack from a distance using radio telemetry. However, the pups were routinely well hidden in thick vegetation, and attempts to confirm their status visually were unsuccessful.
Recently, all four pups of this litter were not only seen, but captured, and found to be in excellent health.
This story has permanently moved to the Wolf Community at Red wolf reintroduction release is a success.