Red Wolf History

Red wolves have been through a lot, and so have the people who work to protect them. Over the years many important tweaks have been made to red wolf recovery practices and programs that have influenced the status of red wolves today. While some changes have been positive and some have been negative, every event that has happened in relation to red wolves is proof that conserving a species is no small task.

Image credit: Red wolf as depicted by John James Audubon (Image is public domain)

DID YOU KNOW:

Red wolves were first described in detail by William Bartram in the 1700's.

The Timeline

Below is a comprehensive timeline of events throughout the history of red wolves and red wolf recovery. The time of occurrence is on the left, and a description of the events that occurred is on the right.

WHEN	WHAT HAPPENED
Before Human Settlement in North America	The natural range of the red wolf stretched from modern-day Texas in the west to the Florida peninsula in the southeast, and from the southern coasts of North America up to modern-day Massachusetts.
18th Century	William Bartram is one of the first to describe red wolves in detail, comparing them to gray wolves from the north.
19th Century	John James Audubon adds detail to the scientific description of the red wolf, giving it the name Canis lupus rufus, which is now simply Canis rufus.
1905	The red wolf is officially recognized as a distinct species.
1962	Howard McCarley informs the scientific community that red wolves are in danger of extinction.
1966	The Endangered Species Preservation Act is created, and red wolves are listed as endangered under the purview of the law.
1968	The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service begins to study red wolves more closely in southeast Texas and southeastern Louisiana.
1969	The Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium becomes home to the first captive red wolf, initiating the red wolf captive breeding campaign to save the species.
1973	The Endangered Species Act is made into a federal law, and the Red Wolf Recovery Program is initiated. From this time until 1980, researchers begin to capture wild canids from the Louisiana and Texas area, putting painstaking effort into determining which animals are fully-blooded red wolves, hybrids, and coyotes. In the end, only 17 of these captured canids are true red wolves.
1977	In Spring, the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium becomes home to the first litter of red wolf pups born in captivity.
1978	Two red wolves are temporarily released on Bull's Island in Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge in South Carolina. Over the next 11 days, red wolf tracking methods are tested and perfected. The wolves are recaptured after the test period concludes.
1980	Red wolves are officially declared "biologically extinct in the wild," and the last remaining wild red wolves are captured and brought into captivity in order to facilitate captive breeding programs with the goal of future reintroduction into the wild.
1984	The Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium receives approval from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to start the Red Wolf Species Survival Plan. Four additional conservation institutions are recruited to assist in holding and maintaining captive red wolves for captive breeding purposes. The Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge is established in northeastern North Carolina. It eventually becomes home to a reintroduced wild population of red wolves.
1986	Legal preparations are made to introduce mated pairs of red wolves into the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge.
1987	Beginning with eight wolves (four male-female pairs), red wolves begin to be released into the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge on the Albemarle Peninsula of North Carolina. Bull's Island in South Carolina begins to be used as an island breeding location for the Red Wolf Recovery Program. Pups born there were to be relocated to the main wild population location in North Carolina after they were raised to maturity.
1988	The first wild litter of the Red Wolf Recovery Program is born in the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge.
1990	The Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge is established near the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, later becoming an extension of the wild red wolf recovery area.
1991	Great Smoky Mountains National Park is approved as another location for a wild red wolf population.
1993	Great Smoky Mountains National Park sees its first litter of wild red wolf pups born. Red wolves begin to be released into the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge.
1995	A new law is introduced in the Senate that would stop all funding for the red wolf recovery program and narrowly defeated. North Carolina passes a law allowing private landowners to kill red wolves on their property. Red wolves as a species become a subject of controversy as some research indicates red wolves may not be a true species after all. Future research returns mixed results, with some studies verifying that red wolves are a distinct species and others concluding that they are not.
1998	All wolves in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park are relocated to the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. The program in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is shut down.
2000	A modifiable system for wild red wolf restoration is set in place to prevent hybridization with coyotes.
2005	All red wolves on Bull's Island are relocated to the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge or captive breeding facilities, and the propagation project on the island is shut down.
2007	The Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium and Red Wolf Recovery Program receive North American Conservation Award top honors from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums for work done to restore red wolves.
2015	Encouraged by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service begins reevaluating its plan and stance on red wolf recovery, even considering terminating all recovery programs altogether.
2016	A federal court, in response to a suit brought by the Red Wolf Coalition and two other groups, issued a preliminary injunction ruling that the USFWS cannot capture and kill - or authorize private landowners to capture and kill - red wolves on private land unless they pose an imminent threat to people or property. A lawsuit filed by the Southern Environmental Law Center (on behalf of the Red Wolf Coalition and two other groups) against the USFWS is currently underway. The suit alleges that the Service is not fulfilling its legal responsibilities under the Endangered Species Act to recover the red wolf. New rules proposed by the USFWS recommend restricting the world's only wild red wolves to two small areas of federal land in Dare County, NC. The proposal also includes removing red wolves from the wild throughout the rest of the 5-county red wolf recovery region and placing them in captivity.
2018	The USFWS releases its conclusions found during a 5-year review of the red wolf recovery program. The conclusions recommend that the red wolf stay listed as endangered under the ESA.
NOW	Fewer than 45 red wolves remain in the wild.

Information sourced from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the Red Wolf Coalition.