rsg_book_2013

MammalsRe-introduction and recovery of the red wolf inthe southeastern USA.Rebecca A. Bartel & David R. Rabon Jr.Red Wolf Recovery Program, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, P.O. Box 1969,Manteo, NC, USA rebecca_bartel@fws.gov & david_rabon@fws.govIntroductionThe red wolf (Canis rufus) is one of the Earth’s most imperiled canids. Onceoccurring throughout the southeastern USA, red wolves were decimated bypredator-control programs and habitat degradation. Remnant populations of redwolves were further threatened by hybridization with expanding coyote (C. latransvar.) populations. To protect the red wolf from extinction, the U.S. Fish andWildlife Service (USFWS) extirpated the red wolf in the wild and established an exsitu breeding program with plans to restore the species to a portion of its formerrange. Only 14 individuals would reproduce to become the founding ancestors ofall red wolves existing today. Successful ex situ reproduction prompted a reintroductionof red wolves in northeastern North Carolina (NENC) in 1987. Asecond re-introduction was initiated in 1991 in the Great Smoky MountainsNational Park, but later terminated because of disease and low pup survival. Therestored population of red wolves inNENC has expanded to included 90 -110 wolves occurring over more than6,000 km 2 . Nearly 200 red wolves aremaintained in more than 40 zoos/nature centers throughout the USA.The red wolf is federally listed asEndangered under the EndangeredSpecies Act (ESA) and IUCN CriticallyEndangered D (IUCN, 2012).GoalsGoals and success indicators of theRed Wolf Recovery Program are takenfrom the Red Wolf Recovery/SpeciesSurvival Plan (USFWS, 1990) and theRed Wolf 5-Year Status Review(USFWS, 2007). Goal: Achieve a series ofgeographically independentpopulations of red wolves, throughre-introduction, that are numericallylarge enough to have the potentialfor allowing natural evolutionaryprocesses to work within thespecies (USFWS, 1990).Red wolf © John Froschauer/PDZA107