5 of the world’s most endangered wolf pups born at refuge near the Outer Banks

Five American red wolves were born last month at the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge near the Outer Banks in an ongoing effort to bring back a species declared extinct in 1980.

The parents of the litter were introduced to the refuge on the mainland in Dare and Hyde counties three years ago. They have now produced pups for the second year in a row, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said in a news release Wednesday.

The new litter includes three girls and two boys. A fostered male pup born at a zoo in Washington state was also introduced, bringing this brood to a total of six pups.

Morgan Lewis, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Red Wolf Recovery Program, does a general health check on a pup at Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. (Courtesy USFW)

“With family bonds that are amazingly strong, the five siblings from the 2022 litter will help the parents with the raising and bonding of this new group of red wolves,” the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said.

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Last week, two new pairs of red wolves were released from their acclimation pens at Alligator River and Pocosin Lakes national wildlife refuges in northeastern North Carolina in hopes they, too, will create families.

One pair was a wild female red wolf paired with a captive-born male from Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma, Washington, the USFW said. The other, a wild female red wolf moved from St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuge in Florida, was paired with a captive-born male from the North Carolina Zoo.

The red wolf once roamed much of the southeastern United States, but was declared extinct in 1980, edged out by predators like gray wolves and coyotes. Fourteen remaining red wolves were captured in Texas and Louisiana before the extinction declaration and were used to establish a breeding program.

In 1987, a few mated pairs were released as an experiment in reintroduction at the Alligator River refuge. That experiment grew to a population of more than 100 red wolves covering five eastern North Carolina counties, including Dare and Hyde.

But over the last decade, the program has faltered, with some landowners pushing the government to abandon recovery efforts. In 2015, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission asked the federal government to end the red wolf conservation program and began removing some protections for the endangered canines. The population dwindled to less than a dozen, making red wolves the most endangered wolf species in the world, the USFW said.

The program continued, however, with the first breeding pair released in the refuge in 2020.

Kari Pugh, kari.pugh@virginiamedia.com