Three litters of red wolves, which are critically endangered and number less than two dozen in the wild, have been born at the North Carolina Zoo, officials announced Monday. The welcome additions are part of the zoo’s red wolf breeding program.
In a news release, according to the Associated Press, the zoo said that the litters, which total 12 pups, were born over three days at the end of April, and all the pups and their mothers are healthy and doing well.
For the first time in two decades, one of the litters was born on the red wolf public habitat. Those pups will probably be visible by mid-June, according to the zoo, when they begin venturing out of the den. The other two litters were born in non-public viewing areas of the zoo.
The recent births bring the total number of red wolves currently in the zoo’s breeding program to 36, making it the second-largest pack in the United States after Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma, Washington.
The zoo added that the 20 or so red wolves remaining in the wild are all in eastern North Carolina. They’re considered the most endangered canid in the world.
Akron Zoo announces birth of eight red wolf pups
In a press release on Monday, the Akron Zoo said that for the first time in its history, the Akron Zoo has welcomed critically endangered red wolf pups. The zoo’s female red wolf, Juno, gave birth to eight pups on Thursday, April 22. The pup’s father is the zoo’s male red wolf, Waya.
Doug Piekarz, the president and chief executive officer of the zoo was quoted by Newsweek as saying: “This is the definition of the Akron Zoo’s mission in action,” he said, adding that the institution “is proud to be able to play a part in saving red wolves, in their native habitat and in zoos.”
Four of the pups were sent to the North Carolina Zoo earlier this month and were successfully introduced into a wild litter, a practice called “cross-fostering,” – intended to promote genetic diversity, according to the press release.
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), fewer than 20 individuals were believed to remain in the wild prior to the release of four adults on April 30 and the four pups on May 1. If the calculations are correct, the recent additions have increased the size of the non-captive population by about half.
It should also be noted that none of this would be possible without the coordination of the two zoos, the USFWS, conservation groups, nonprofits, and private companies all working together with the same goal to save an American species,” Regina Mossotti, the director of animal care and conservation at the Endangered Wolf Center and the vice coordinator of the SSP, said, according to the press release.
Cliff Johnson from West Jordan, UT. (CC SA 2.0).
The red wolf (Canis lupus rufus)
At one time, red wolves were distributed throughout the southeastern and south-central United States from the Atlantic Ocean to central Texas, southeastern Oklahoma, and southwestern Illinois in the west, and on up through southern Ontario in Canada.
By the mid-1900s, the red wolf was nearly driven to extinction due to aggressive predator-control programs, habitat destruction, and extensive hybridization with coyotes. By the late 1960s, there were hardly any red wolves left in the wild, with the exception of a few on the Gulf Coast of western Louisiana and eastern Texas.
Fourteen of the survivors were selected to be the founders of a captive-bred population, which was established in the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma, Washington between 1974 and 1980.
The red wolf is more sociable than the coyote but less so than the gray wolf. It mates in January–February, with an average of 6-7 pups being born in March, April, and May. It is monogamous, with both parents participating in the rearing of young.
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