Lawsuit settlement heralded as a victory for NC’s endangered red wolf population

Under a settlement finalized Wednesday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will consider releasing endangered red wolves from captivity into Northeastern North Carolina annually until at least 2030.

Conservation groups that sued the federal agency in 2020 see the settlement as a key step in re-establishing an endangered species that had dwindled to as few as seven wolves in the wild in recent years. There are between 32 and 34 red wolves in the wild now, according to the FWS, with 278 in captivity.

“This agreement pulls wild red wolves back from the brink of extinction. It signals a return to the management approach that was hailed as a model for reintroduction efforts and served the red wolf so well for nearly 30 years,” Johanna Hamburger, the director and senior attorney for the Animal Welfare Institute’s terrestrial wildlife program, said in a statement.

Under Wednesday’s settlement, the FWS acknowledged the importance of the red wolves in Eastern North Carolina to the species and said it plans to continue breeding red wolves in captivity with some being released into the wild. The FWS also agreed to consult with experts while developing its plans to release wolves and to provide metrics that can measure the program’s success.

Additionally, the agency said it would continue pursuing coyote sterilization “as appropriate” around the red wolves’ range, preventing cross-breeding of the species.

“The success of the Eastern North Carolina Red Wolf Population sets the stage for the Service’s ability to fulfill our responsibility to recover the species – which we cannot do without the local community and our conservation partners,” Jennifer Koches, a FWS spokeswoman, wrote in a statement to The News & Observer.

Koches also said the FWS is “committed to increasing transparency and communication” around the red wolf program and has been working to reengage with eastern North Carolina stakeholders about the species.

The Southern Environmental Law Center represented the Animal Welfare Institute, Defenders of Wildlife and Red Wolf Coalition in the case.

Reintroducing an endangered species

Red Wolves once spanned the entire Southeast and mid-Atlantic regions, ranging as far north as Long Island and as far west as mid-Texas. But by 1972, they were only found in a small coastal area around the Louisiana-Texas border.

Now, wild red wolves are primarily found around Northeastern North Carolina’s Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, with some released onto Florida’s St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuge.

The Fish and Wildlife Service started capturing wolves in the early 1970s and used those to establish a captive breeding program. By 1980, the species was declared extinct in the wild.

In 1987, the FWS started releasing some wolves onto the Alligator River refuge. That population grew to 120 wolves by 2015, when the FWS suspended the practice of releasing wolves into the wild.

There were seven red wolves remaining in the wild when the conservation groups filed their lawsuit in 2020, often shot or hit by cars. No pups were born in the wild from 2019 to 2021.

A federal judge issued an injunction in early 2021 directing the FWS to create a plan for more releases and to start setting wolves free again.

“For 25 years, North Carolina was home to one of the most successful predator reintroductions in the world. This settlement puts us on a path to restoring the red wolf to its rightful place as a celebrated success story,” Ramona McGee, an SELC senior attorney, said in a written statement.

The agreement reached Wednesday is effective until 2030. Metrics that have been used to determine the release program’s success include known population size, number of breeding pairs of red wolves in the wild and number of litters born in the wild, wrote Kathleen Sullivan, an SELC spokeswoman.

Ben Prater, Defenders of Wildlife’s Southeast program director, told The News & Observer that period will encompass two generations of wolves, allowing the conservation groups to determine if the program is working.

“What the future holds only the future can tell, but we feel very confident that we now have the framework to get a very functional recovery program sustained in North Carolina,” Prater said

Red wolf population status

Each release of a red wolf into the wild is celebrated by conservationists, and each death mourned. So far, 2023 has brought some of both.

“It’s been mixed but quite frankly considering where we were ... with the recent releases and the pups that have been born the last two years, we’re really seeing those numbers track up and be on the right trajectory,” Prater said.

On April 11, the breeding female in a wolf family group gave birth to five pups on Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge — that family group’s second litter in two years. The FWS subsequently added another pup to the pack, a male who was successfully fostered in.

The Fish and Wildlife Service released 14 wolves into the wild this spring, including seven adults and seven pups.

Wolves released into the wild are fitted with orange GPS collars making them visible from a distance. Reflective material on the collars is meant to help drivers avoid hitting the wolves.

A male wolf born in captivity was found dead in May about two weeks after being released, shot in the torso. The Fish and Wildlife Service is offering $5,000 for information that leads to prosecution in the case.

It is illegal to shoot a red wolf in most instances, but because the animals are deemed an “experimental, nonessential population” they can be killed if harassing livestock or pets. Someone who is undertaking an activity like trapping coyotes who accidentally kills a red wolf is also not violating federal law as long as they report it to the FWS within 24 hours.

A different male wolf, released onto the Alligator River refuge, was recaptured because he was unwilling to leave a rural neighborhood.

In June, the oldest known wild red wolf on record died. The 14-year-old female was born in the wild and died around the Milltail area, apparently of natural causes.

For a stretch, the red wolf reintroduction program resulted in more than 100 wolves in the wild. Prater said Wednesday’s agreement lays the groundwork to helping restore that number, namely by providing conditions where wolves can breed in the wild.

“We believe that this settlement and the terms outlined in it are really the best path forward, that the Fish and Wildlife Service is now committed to make that happen,” Prater said.

This story was produced with financial support from 1Earth Fund, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work.