Taken at the Alligator River Wildlife Refuge in Manteo, North Carolina. A very bad picture of a pregnant female but they were quite antisocial and stayed far out in the field. We were privileged to see these wolves every day we were there. We saw 5 at one time, 3 adults and 2 young ones.
The red wolf is the world’s most endangered wolf. Once common throughout the Eastern and South Central United States, red wolf populations were decimated by the early 20th century as a result of intensive predator control programs, as well as the degradation and alteration of the habitat that the species depends upon. When the red wolf was first designated as a species that was threatened with extinction under the Endangered Species Preservation Act in 1967, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service initiated efforts to conserve and recover the species. Today, about 15 to 17 red wolves roam their native habitats in eastern North Carolina as a nonessential experimental population, and approximately 235 red wolves are maintained in 49 Red Wolf SAFE (Saving Animals From Extinction) facilities throughout the United States.
