08/15/2024
How the World’s Last Wild Red Wolves are Avoiding Extinction
A renewed push to save them has brought cautious optimism
In April, the latest glimmer of hope appeared here in the only spot on Earth where endangered red wolves remain in the wild.
Five pups were born to a pair of wolves — a female known as 2413, and a male known as 2444 — marking the third year in a row that at least one new litter began life in Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, this corner of coastal North Carolina.
The births sparked joy among red wolf advocates and the small team of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees who oversee the decades-long effort to restore a native animal that once roamed widely throughout the Southeast, but saw its numbers in the wild plummet to single digits by 2020. However, the elation didn’t last.
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