Hope for the future: Endangered red wolf arrives at Roger Williams Park Zoo

Jack Perry, Providence Journal

PROVIDENCE − He doesn't know it, but a red wolf that moved into the Roger Williams Park Zoo last week will play an important role in the recovery of his critically endangered species.

Zookeepers hope the red wolf, named Frye, will hit it off with Saluda, a red wolf born at the zoo two years ago, and the pair will have a pup or pups this spring.

Zookeepers will eventually put the red wolves together and keep their "fingers crossed" for a romantic bond, Jenny Theuman, an animal care manager at the zoo, said last month before Frye's arrival.

Frye, a red wolf from a zoo in Fort Worth, Texas, recently arrived at the Roger Williams Zoo.
Frye, a red wolf from a zoo in Fort Worth, Texas, recently arrived at the Roger Williams Zoo.

Frye's move from Fort Worth, Texas, to Rhode Island is part of a cooperative effort by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and zoos across the country to rebuild the red wolf population and return them to the wild.

More: Red wolf parents and two pups will move from Providence zoo to Akron. Here's why.

Once numbering hundreds of thousands in the United States and populating a large part of the country from Texas to New York, it's now estimated that just 23 to 25 red wolves are living in the wild in eastern North Carolina, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Some 270 other red wolves are living in captivity, part of the effort between the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to save the species.

The grand plan that brought Frye to Rhode Island also sent Saluda's parents and two younger siblings to the Akron Zoo in Ohio.

The Akron Zoo announced their arrival in an Oct. 26 Facebook post saying, "The red wolves are back at your Akron Zoo! We are welcoming a family of four wolves - Diego and Brave and their two pups, Sentinel and Sabine. The four are in the red wolf habitat and we will slowly remove the window coverings as they adjust to their new home.

Sentinel, a male, and Sabine, a female, were born in Providence on April 29 this year.

After his arrival last week, Frye will remain in quarantine through this week, according to Vicki Scharfberg, the zoo's director of marketing and public relations. After that, he and Saluda will have a gradual introduction.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Roger Williams Park Zoo gets a new red wolf

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