General Information / Nominating Organizations: Please use this Column to Provide the Requested Information
1 / Organization & Web address / Animal Welfare Institute, http://www.awionline.org/
2 / Contact name / Tara Zuardo
3 / Address / 900 Pennsylvania Ave SE, Washington, DC 20003
4 / Email & phone / , 202-446-2148
5 / Communications staff contact name (if different from above) / Amey Owen
6 / Email & phone / , 202-446-2128
Species Information
7 / Common name, genus, and species / Red wolf, Canis rufus
8 / Geographic range / The originally recognized red wolf range extended throughout thesoutheastern United Statesfrom the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, north to the Ohio River Valley and central Pennsylvania, and west toCentral Texasand southeastern Missouri. Since 1987, red wolves have been released into northeastern North Carolina, where they roam 1.7 million acres. These lands span five counties (Dare, Hyde, Tyrrell, Washington, and Beaufort) and include three national wildlife refuges, a U.S. Air Force bombing range, and private land.
9 / Conservation status / Critically Endangered
10 / Remaining population size / 22-45
Report Questions
11 / Can you provide high-resolution photos? / Yes
12 / If your species is selected, will you use the report to advocate for the species? / Yes
13 / 5 free reports provided; additional copies = ~$2.60/each. If you’d like additional copies, how many (bulk orders may be cheaper)? / TBD
Public Engagement Questions (Please explain why the species is interesting, why it matters, why decision-makers + the public should care.)
14 / Provide background information, including interesting facts, for the species profile. / The red wolf (Canis rufus) once ranged throughout the eastern and southcentral United States. Intensive predator control programs and the degradation and alteration of the species' habitat had greatly reduced its numbers by the early 20th century, however. Designated as an endangered species in 1967, the red wolf was declared extinct in the wild in 1980. In 1987, an experimental population of red wolves was reintroduced into eastern North Carolina. However, the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s failure to investigate the status and decline of the wolves’ population and its management actions are harming the survival and recovery of the wolves: the wild population is down from 90-110 red wolves in 2014 to fewer than 30-45 now. Where once gunshot mortality was the greatest threat to the wild population, now the agency’s neglect and active mismanagement is responsible for the red wolf’s demise.
With the ESC, we launched a powerful advocacy campaign,“The Truth about Red Wolves,”to help spread the word about this amazing animal and drum up public support for the wolf. The website educates visitors about the ecological and economic benefits that red wolves bring to North Carolina and the country and provides background information, key facts, and media updates on the species. Some of those interesting facts include that red wolves are not a danger to people, pets, or livestock; are genetically distinct from gray wolves and coyotes; consume an invasive species (nutria); and can effectively exclude coyotes from a given territory. The site was used to generate a petition signed by over 80 private landowners in the area expressing their support for keeping endangered red wolves on their private land.
15 / What is your organization’s most important lead message for the public about this species’ decline to be included in the report? / After being extirpated by people, the red wolf cannot survive, and be recovered as a keystone species, without a hands-on commitment from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The department needs to recognize how essential the wild population of red wolves is, foster their recovery, protect them from take, and educate the local public about their importance.
16 / Is your NGO saving the species? If yes, how? / Yes. We have issued lawsuits over day and night hunting of coyotes, as well as over U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s active neglect of the program and removals of the wolves, since 2012, and effectively obtaining injunctions to help protect the last few red wolves. We’ve submitted countless petitions to change the classification of red wolves from non-essential to essential and to get the agency to complete an updated recovery plan for the species. We’ve also launched a powerful advocacy campaign, “The Truth About Red Wolves.”
17 / How can individuals help? Please be specific. / Individuals can help by writing letters to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, encouraging the department to, once again, recommit itself to red wolf recovery and to establish additional reintroduction sites for the red wolf in its historic range. Individuals who own land in the red wolf recovery area should also reach out as private landowners and inform the Service that they are willing to host red wolves on their private land. Residents within the five-county recovery range can sign a petition, urging Service Director Dan Ashe to keep red wolves on federal, state and private lands.
18 / What action should the new administration take to save the species? How can they accomplish this action? / The new administration should once again recommit itself to the red wolf adaptive management plan, which includes conducting pup fostering in the wild, controlling for red wolf-coyote hybrids, educating the locals about red wolves, prosecuting poachers, and otherwise reengaging in activities it once did to bring the population back up to 150+ wolves in the wild of North Carolina (as well as in other wild sites, as the original recovery plan called for).
Criteria-specific Questions Part 1 – Please answer N/A or “see above/below” if appropriate.
19 / Detail the ecological importance of the species. Does it play a critical function in its ecosystem? How does the ecosystem depend on this species (e.g., keystone predator, keystone pollinator, ecological engineer, refugia provider, etc.)? / As predators native to North Carolina, restored red wolves fulfill their predator-related roles in their ecosystem, enhancing diversity, balance and stability. Restoring red wolves means restoring important functions to the ecosystem. The restoration of the red wolf to a portion of its historic range has local, state, national and international value as a model for recovery and management of other species. Recovery of the red wolf illustrates the positive effects of restoring a native species to historic territories and the ways in which restoration of an extirpated species affects other animals as well as plant species. Some credit can also be given to red wolves toward control of nuisance species. For example, two dietary studies show that red wolves are known to feed on deer, nutria, raccoons, marsh rabbits and small rodents. We can assume red wolves contribute to control of these "nuisance species" with respect to crop damage by deer and rabbits and rodents, with respect to levee and road and farm equipment damage via nutria, and with respect to predation upon ground nesting birds (quail and turkey, etc.) and sea turtle nests (on island propagation sites) by raccoons.
20 / Detail information on any social or economic benefits the species provides—e.g., clean water, recreation, medicine, etc. (Optional) / Wolves resonate with many people for many reasons. People want to see wolves in the wild, to hear them howl and to see sign of wolf presence. Red wolves also attract visitors to the five-county red wolf recovery area. Thousands of visitors tour the Red Wolf Coalition sponsored “Wolves and Wildlands in the 21st Century” exhibit at the Walter B. Jones Center for the Sounds in Columbia, NC every year. Other well-designed red wolf programs can also be important components for communities seeking to enhance ecotourism possibilities. Past economic studies show the red wolf can attract millions of dollars to local economies via ecotourism. Additionally, the Ursa International study by Gail Lash shows good potential to further enhance economic contributions across the Albemarle Peninsula and in the Inner Banks region, based on red wolf ecotourism.
21 / Can the species be an ambassador for its habitat or taxonomic group? If yes, detail. / Yes. Over 20,000 people annually are educated about red wolves through events, festivals, school programming and presentations to community groups. Red wolves in particular are excellent ambassadors for the wolf, which has become a misunderstood predator and too often evokes fear.Red wolves, not having a history of harming people, pets, or livestock, have the potential to erase some of that fear.
Judge’s Score for Importance of Species:
22 / Describe the specific threat(s) to the species. What are the greatest impacts? / Where once gunshot mortality was the greatest threat to the wild population, now the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s neglect and active mismanagement of wild red wolves is responsible for the red wolf’s demise.
23 / If not described above, detail the current and projected decline of the species. / The wild population is down from 90-110 red wolves in 2014 to less than 30-45.
24 / If not described above, detail the status of the species’ habitat(s). What are the threats, if any? Is there adequate connectivity? / In September, the USFWS announced adecisionthat will effectively undermine decades of red wolf recovery and threatened the very survival of the species in the wild. The USFWS has announced that it plans to reduce the range of the existing wild population to two areas within Dare County and increase the captive breeding population without definitively committing to ever reintroducing captive-bred wolves into the wild.
25 / Describe the timing of the species’ threat(s). Is it a current, eminent, or future threat? / All (current, eminent, and future)
Judge’s Score for Severity and Extent of Threat:
KEY QUESTIONS FOR NOMINATION: Criteria-specific Questions Part 2 – Please answer N/A or “see above/below” if appropriate.
26 / What does the science on this species indicate was the correct ESA decision? / N/A
27 / How was the science not followed? What was the ultimate decision that was made (or not made)? / Although every red wolf biologist and expert has called for the species’ recovery, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has effectively called for the program to be scaled back, and for the wolves to essentially only exist in captivity.
28 / Why was the science not followed? Indicate if there is an associated political threat from industry groups, members of Congress, and/or states. / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is capitulating to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and two North Carolina anti-wolf individuals.
29 / What is the impact of the political meddling in the decision on the species? What has occurred as a result of not following scientific recommendations on the management of the species? / The population has dwindled down from 90-110 to fewer than 30 in the wild.
Judge’s Score for Severity of Political Interference:
Judge’s Final Score
Please submit to by September 12, 2017, and thank you for participating in the 2016 Top 10 Report.
Please cite any substantiating scientific studies