History of the Red Wolf

The history of the Red Wolf in North America dates back 10,000 years. According to experts, Red Wolves are descended from the earliest form of a wolf-like animal known as Canis lepophagus. Over time, this ancient species spread to different continents and changed and adapted to its environment and prey to better ensure its survival. These physiological and behavioral changes gave rise to proto-wolves which evolved into today’s three modern species. These include the Gray Wolf and its various subspecies, the Red Wolf and the Ethiopian Wolf. 

The Red Wolf’s original range in North America can be traced from present day Pennsylvania to Texas. Yet their population of approximately 100,000 in the early 1700’s began to drastically decline after the arrival of European settlers who competed for their territory and food sources. The stereotypical notion that Red Wolves were aggressive like their European cousins, who were a subspecies of Gray Wolves, was also unfairly applied to them by the immigrants. Thus by the 1970’s, Red Wolves were on the brink of extinction. Forced into the safety of Louisiana and Texas swamplands, the less than twenty purebred specimens that remained on Earth were trapped and placed in captivity. To preserve the spectacular species, a nationwide breeding program was implemented to ensure genetic purity and diversity. Efforts to return Red Wolves to the wild in the eastern part of our country are ongoing. While these were initially successful off the coast of North Carolina, attempts in the western North Carolina mountains failed in the early 1990’s. Tragically, today’s numbers of wild Red Wolves living on the Albemarle Peninsula are significantly down as they face auto and gun-related dangers They are sometimes mistakenly identified as coyotes, who are a smaller and genetically different Canid species. However, when given the opportunity, the two will sometimes breed when species of their own kind aren’t available. This is yet another tragic by-product of man’s disruption of the balance of nature. 

To learn more about Red Wolves and their ongoing saga for survival, I highly recommend the book, The Secret World of Red Wolves, by T. Delene Beeland, which served as my primary source of information for this section. As for the most up-to-date information about Red Wolves, I suggest visiting the website https://ncwf.org/wildlife/red-wolves/#live-cam .  This site additionally features access to a live 24/7 webcam directed at an enclosure of two red wolves currently living in captivity at the Red Wolf Education Center in Columbia, NC.

- American Wolf Foundation

- Animal Welfare Institute 

- Association of Zoos and Aquariums

- California Wolf Center

- Center for Biological Diversity 

- Defenders of Wildlife

- Earthjustice 

- Endangered Wolf Center 

- International Wolf Center

- National Wolfwatcher Coalition 

- National Wildlife Federation 

- NC State University 

- NC Wildlife Federation 

- NC Zoo Society 

- Red Wolf Coalition

- Red Wolf SAFE (Saving Animals From Extinction)

- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service(Red Wolf Recovery)

- Wildlands Network

- Wild Foundation 

- Wolf Conservation Center

- Wolf Haven International