A better future for red wolves has arrived. Defenders of Wildlife, along with partner conservation organizations, sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2020 for suspending essential red wolf recovery efforts. After extensive legal discussions and negotiations among the parties, a settlement was finally reached on Aug. 9 and it is an absolute victory for this species. The settlement ensures a science-based re-commitment to conserving wild red wolves by consulting scientists and field experts as FWS creates their annual reintroduction plans and briefings regarding coyote management efforts.
How we got to this point is an important conservation story. Historically, FWS was the unquestioned leader in recovering and restoring red wolves. But by the late 2010s, things started to unravel. FWS backed away from their responsibility under the law to recover the species and stopped enforcing critical provisions of the Endangered Species Act, which were essential to protect these critically endangered animals.
Over the last decade, a lack of reintroducing additional red wolves back to suitable habitat and neglectful oversight combined with increased poaching drove the population down to its lowest level since recovery efforts began. Additionally, hybridization with coyotes due to critically low wolf numbers compromised genetic integrity. Thankfully, zoos had essential genetic material from animals under their care needed to repopulate red wolves back to the wild. And Defenders played a key role in shifting the FWS’s commitment and compelling the agency to take the necessary steps to increase the wild population.
Defenders has been front and center on red wolves for nearly 40 years. We help educate the public about red wolves, promote, and build coexistence efforts on the ground to build social tolerance, and fight policy issues in the courts, within the administration and on Capitol Hill. Helping people, especially those in red wolf country to better understand these amazing creatures and how to co-exist with them to reduce any conflicts has been our priority for years.
Coexistence helps address conflicts while simultaneously working to increase social tolerance. Together, education and conflict avoidance tools are key to keeping wolves separated and away from where people live and work. This forward-looking legal settlement will accelerate and guide our pathway for more coexistence work, more social acceptance and more tolerance for red wolves.
Though this exciting settlement only deals with issues surrounding red wolf packs in North Carolina, there is plenty of suitable wolf habitat left to address. For red wolves to thrive, they will need additional reintroduction areas beyond this one state. But it’s more than releasing wolves in places where we believe they belong. It takes sound science – enough habitat, a diverse gene pool – and an understanding of the social dynamics within the communities where the wolves will be reintroduced. This settlement begins to address many of these critical issues associated with predator conservation, starting with FWS’s commitment to consistently keeping the public informed on their plans and activities by holding accessible public meetings and publishing wolf release plans on their website.
After years of inattention and hostility towards red wolves, this deal reached among the parties turns the corner and provides a road map for the recovery of red wolves. And for that we are grateful, and hopeful that these magnificent animals will thrive for generations to come.
Jamie Rappaport Clark is an American conservationist and former government official working as the president and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife.
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