Associated Press
August 29, 2014
Betty and Hank, both captured red wolves, roam in a
fenced area at the Red Wolf Coalition February 10, 2014 in Creswell,
N.C. The wolf is part of a captive breeding program at the coalition. JILL KNIGHT
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it had awarded a contract to the Virginia-based nonprofit Wildlife Management Institute to evaluate its 27-year experiment to restore the endangered species to the wild.
About 100 red wolves currently roam the wild in eastern North Carolina, and about 200 are in captive breeding programs in several locations in the U.S. They were first released into the wilderness under the program in 1987. The red wolf had been considered extinct in the wild as of 1980, though captive breeding programs existed.
A red wolf lies in a 50 foot-by-50-foot fenced enclosure in the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge on June 17, 2010.
JOHN D. SIMMONS
The public is asked to
offer comments online and at two public meetings before the comment
period ends on Sept. 12. The 60-day evaluation will end on October 10. "Once
we receive the final evaluation, we will review it and make a decision
to continue, modify, or terminate the red wolf recovery program," said
Leopoldo Miranda, an assistant regional director for the Fish and
Wildlife ServiceAsked about what terminating the program would entail, Miranda said during a conference call that no decisions have been made. When a program to restore the wolves to the Smoky Mountains in the western part of the state ended in 1998, the agency tried to capture all of the animals and bring them back to captivity, he said.
A female red wolf trots
through a fenced enclosure she shares with three other females of about
the same age in the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge.
JOHN D. SIMMONS
Sierra Weaver, a lawyer with the Southern Environmental Law Center, said the public should be given longer than two weeks to comment, especially considering the announcement came at the start of a holiday weekend. She also said that the federal agency failed to put a notice of the review in the Federal Register as required. "The agency has failed to comply with the process outlined in the Endangered Species Act for this type of review and we are concerned it is not taking seriously its responsibilities to save the red wolf from extinction," she said. A spokesman for the federal agency didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Weaver's criticism Friday afternoon.
In May, the Southern Environmental Law Center helped convince a federal judge to block the hunting of coyotes near the red wolf habitat. They argued that the animals look similar and are easily confused, leading to the wolves being shot. The judge issued a ban on hunting until a trial takes place on a lawsuit by the environmental group seeking to permanently end coyote hunting in several eastern North Carolina counties. The lawsuit is pending.
Betty, a female red wolf,
roams in a fenced area at the Red Wolf Coalition on Feb. 10 in
Creswell. The wolf is part of a captive breeding program at the
coalition.
JILL KNIGHT
In all, eight of the wolves have died in 2014, including two killed by gunshot. Several of them died from car accidents or health issues. Miranda said Friday that none of the wolves have been shot to death since the ban was enacted.
The Sept. 10 and Sept. 11 public meetings will be in Columbia and Swan Quarter, respectively. The meetings are open to the public and will involve moderators interacting in discussions with the participants.
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