Lincoln Park Zoo Releases Endangered Wolf Pups
May 1, 2009Chicago,
IL – Six critically endangered red wolf pups were born at Lincoln Park Zoo on April 24. Today (May 1) four of those youngsters are headed to
North Carolina where they will be released into the wild as part of the
Red Wolf Recovery Program. The pups will be inserted into dens of adult
wild wolves that will serve as foster parents. These pups are the first
wolves from Lincoln Park Zoo to be released to the wild.
The Red Wolf Recovery Program is a cooperative conservation effort
between the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Red Wolf Species
Survival Plan and the United States Fish & Wildlife Service .
Managed Breeding Programs
The red wolf fostering strategy – placing red wolf pups born through
a managed breeding program into wild dens – has been successfully
performed with multiple litters over the past decade.
According to Arthur Beyer, red wolf field coordinator for the US
Fish & Wildlife Service, "Wild mothers have readily accepted the
pups as long as the pups are placed in the den when they are this
young. The field team has identified two or three denning pairs where
Lincoln Park Zoo pups are an ideal fit.
Preparing for Departure
Early this morning the four pups were pulled from their zoo den,
weighed and examined by a zoo veterinarian before being placed in an
animal carrier and flown to North Carolina with zoo staff. Later today
they will be placed in a single den, or split among a couple different
wild dens.
"Once released, we typically leave the animals alone and will check
back in about a year," explained Will Waddell, Red Wolf Species
Survival Plan coordinator. "This fostering strategy has a very high
success rate; the pups are placed with proven mothers."
Importance of the Red Wolf Recovery Program
"It’s important to bolster this critically endangered species
population, and Lincoln Park Zoo is proud to play a part in the Red
Wolf Recovery Program,"”" said Megan Ross, Ph.D., Lincoln Park Zoo
general curator.
The red wolf is one of the world’s most endangered wild canids. Once
common throughout the southeastern United States, red wolf populations
were decimated by the 1960s due to intensive predator control programs
and loss of habitat. After being declared an endangered species in
1973, efforts were made to round up as many wild red wolves as
possible. Of the 17 remaining wolves captured by biologists, 14 became
the founders of a successful managed-breeding program. Consequently,
the US Fish and Wildlife Service declared red wolves extinct in the
wild in 1980.
By 1987, enough red wolves were bred in the Red Wolf Species
Survival Plan to begin a restoration program on the Alligator River
National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern North Carolina. Since then the
experimental population area has expanded to include three national
wildlife refuges, Department of Defense and state-owned lands and
private property, totaling 1.7 million acres. The main threats to the
wolf’s survival remain loss of habitat due to development and
persecution by humans.
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