The survival of the red wolf, an endangered species unique to the United States, hangs in the balance, necessitating a “significant additional management intervention,” reveals a recently published population viability analysis.
In light of these findings, a comprehensive recovery strategy was rolled out by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service outlining an investment of approximately $328 million over the ensuing half-century with the aim to extricate the red wolf from the threatened species category.
Recognizing the urgency of conservation efforts, Shannon Estenoz, Interior Department Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, stated on record, “This final revised recovery plan is an intensive effort to ensure that these endangered canids maintain their presence in the wild to enrich future generation’s biodiversity encounter.”
However, this conservation journey is fraught with substantial challenges. The analysis vividly underscores the necessity for severe reductions in gunshot and vehicle fatalities, bolstered endeavors to curb wolf-coyote intermixing, and inventive approaches to boost reproduction in both in situ and ex situ wolf populations.
As per the recent data from Fish and Wildlife, the acquainted wild population is a mere 13 – differentiated by collars, with the total wild estimate ranging between 23 to 22 – all located in and around two federal reserves on the North Carolina coast. Despite active stewardship, the minuscule population is likely to decline due to persisting human-made threats and recurrent hybridization with coyotes.
Without the continuation of the current captive breeding program, the North Carolina wolf population could face extinction within the next two to three decades.
The analytical documentation posits a viable recovery plan for red wolves, possibly accomplished within 40 to 50 years, under optimal conditions, yet calls attention to the substantial management efforts needed, exceeding the existing implementations.
Regardless of the outstanding difficulties, hope persists in the field as Ramona McGee, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, acknowledges the recovery plan. Although high level and lacking specific short-term action details, she commends the Service’s efforts in addressing recovery criteria concerns tactfully.
