Apr 08, 2014
As
winter finally starts to melt and the first green glow of tulip poplar
blossoms rise over the mountains, we take a moment once again to be
thankful for the magnificent diversity of life in the Southeast. This is
one time a year when people celebrate the tiniest things, like the
first sprout on the forest floor, a bee in the backyard garden, or a few
notes from a morning songbird. However, scientists now realize that
there is something larger at work behind the scenes of a truly healthy
ecosystem.
The loss of predators in the Eastern United States
over past centuries has had a dramatic effect on the health of ever part
of the region’s ecosystem—from prey populations, to vegetation, right
down to the water itself. The red wolf, Canis rufus,
has been caught in the middle of the political and environmental
predator wars. Declared extinct in the wild in 1967, and reintroduced to
North Carolina twenty years later, the current population of red wolves
in the wild is somewhere close to 100 individuals.
A loss of red wolves isn’t just bad news for red
wolves, and the biologists who study them. Red wolves eat mainly deer,
raccoon, nutria, and rabbits. When left unchecked, as seen with
white-tailed deer in the Northeast, populations of herbivores can
decimate native plant communities and leave the ecosystem unbalanced. An
out of whack ecosystem may not be able to provide essential functions
such as soil creation and water filtration.
Though they once roamed as far north as Ontario and
as far west as Texas, red wolves now claim only a small fragment of
eastern North Carolina as home. Even this last refuge is in danger. A
North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission rule allows coyote hunting
within red wolf territory. Red wolves are often confused with coyotes,
and almost 30 percent of
the red wolf population was killed by hunters between 2000 and 2013
(defendersblog.org, 2013). A coalition of predator defense groups has
challenged the rule, which is currently awaiting a decision in federal
court. It has been a very long winter indeed for red wolves.
Fortunately, all is not lost for this mysterious and essential species. Defenders of Wildlife and National Wildlife Federation
are currently advocating for North Carolina’s wild red wolves. Wild
South continues to focus our efforts on predator education to separate
fact from fiction and inspire appreciation for these often misunderstood
creatures.. You too can get involved: click here to join our network.
Want to know what all the fuss is about? You can visit captive red
wolves at the WNC Nature Center in Asheville, NC.
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