Defenders of Wildlife Blog

Till next season… – The Wood River Wolf Project finished its fifth season this month, having lost just 4 sheep out of 27,305 that move through the million-acre project area—a 99.99% success rate! We’ll have a full review from project manager Suzanne Stone early next week, but also check out last Friday’s write-up in the Idaho Mountain Express. To celebrate the end of the season, our field crew was invited for the first time to participate in the annual Trailing of the Sheep Festival in Sun Valley that honors the culture and heritage of raising sheep. It was an honor to take part and shows how Defenders’ efforts are slowly gaining acceptance in the community.

Don’t shoot red wolves! – Defenders took action this week with the Southern Environmental Law Center and other groups to protect red wolves in North Carolina. The state had previously agreed to allow night hunting of coyotes in areas where wolves also live, and at least one endangered red wolf has died as a result. Red wolves are small and can be very hard to distinguish from coyotes at any time of day, let alone at night. Here’s what Defenders senior staff attorney Jason Rylander had to say:

 “With fewer than 100 red wolves in the wild, we cannot afford to lose a single one to accidental shooting. Spotlight hunting of coyotes is a new and unnecessary threat to the conservation of red wolves.”

Read more in The Mountaineer.

What’s next for Washington? – Over the weekend, the Seattle Times reported on the ongoing controversy in Washington surrounding the removal of the Wedge Pack. While there’s little agreement about how to resolve future conflicts, it’s clear that no one is happy with the current direction in which wolf management is heading. Many ranchers have been reluctant to adopt proactive strategies to prevent livestock losses, while the state has been quick to blame wolves based on shoddy evidence. Our best hope is to find ways to work directly with ranchers to help provide them with the tools they need to coexist with wolves on the landscape.

First hundred wolves killed across Northern Rockies – At least 121 wolves have been killed so far this hunting season across three states: Idaho hunters have removed 65 since the end of August; Montana hunters have taken 25; Wyoming hunters have killed 23 in the trophy game area, another 2 were lost to other causes and 8 have been killed in the unregulated predator zone. With rifle season just starting in many states, those numbers are likely to rise sharply over the next couple months. Read more in the Missoulian.

Red wolves like this one and coyotes are difficult to tell apart, even in daylight. Interbreeding with coyotes is also a threat to this species.

The red wolf is a normally a secretive animal that avoids humans, waiting for nightfall to hunt and socialize.  But in North Carolina, these endangered creatures can no longer find safety under the cover of darkness.  The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission recently approved a temporary rule allowing night hunting of coyotes with spotlights, putting the rare wolves at risk of being accidentally shot.

Defenders of Wildlife, along with the Animal Welfare Institute and the Red Wolf Coalition, has filed a court challenge against the NC Wildlife Resource Commission and a request to stop this rule.  Not only does the rule threaten an endangered species, but the NC Wildlife Resource Commission also adopted it illegally, via a temporary rulemaking procedure that violates state law.

Red wolves and coyotes are easy to confuse even in daylight because they are similar in both in color and physical appearance, and adolescent wolves are similar to adult coyotes in size.  At night, it’s even more difficult to tell the difference (click here to see the two species side by side).

The rule is catastrophic for several reasons.  This species was once extinct in the wild, and slowly began to recover after captive wolves were reintroduced into the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge.  However, there are still only about 100 wild red wolves in the wild.  With such a small population, each individual is vital to the survival of the species.  But every year, about 7-9 percent of red wolves are killed by North Carolina hunters, a number that will almost certainly increase with night hunting.

Red wolves are also threatened by interbreeding with coyotes.  To prevent this, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sterilizes coyotes that live in red wolf habitat.  But shooting sterilized coyotes allows fertile coyotes from other areas to move in and interbreed with wolves.

There are only about 100 red wolves left in the wild, and all of them live in the state of North Carolina.

Presently, the red wolf only exists in the state of North Carolina, and with a population so small and fragile, an increase in red wolf shooting deaths and interbreeding with coyotes could mean they’ll never recover.

Defenders is committed to fighting this rule and protecting these rare and beautiful animals.  Look out for updates as we continue our mission to keep red wolves alive and thriving.

Click here to learn more about the night hunting rule in North Carolina and the challenge filed against it.

Red wolves have returned to North Carolina's wilds.

Eastern North Carolina is home to a rich diversity of wildlife that rivals any other region in the United States, and the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge is one of the best places to experience it.

The 150,000-acre refuge was established in 1984 to protect the area’s unique swampy pocosin (sandy or peaty) wetlands and surrounding habitat. It is part of the North Carolina Coastal Plain Refuge Complex, which includes the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge. The Alligator National Wildlife Refuge manager also oversees Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge, Currituck National Wildlife Refuge and Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge.

The small streams and tributaries from the Alligator River and dense vegetation provide ideal habitat for deer, black bears, frogs, alligators, shorebirds and other critters. There is plenty of wildlife to go searching for, and the refuge hosts a number of programs specifically designed to educate visitors and provide the opportunity to experience wildlife up close.

What To Do

One of the premier events held on the refuge (and the surrounding areas) is Wings Over Water. This annual six-day event—held from Nov. 8-13, is highlighted by alligator searches, teaching sessions by wildlife photography experts, and canoe rides including a stop at the famous pirate Blackbeard’s hangout on Ocracoke Island.  Thousands of visitors come out to enjoy the festival.

The Sandy Ridge Trail ambles through cypress swamp and runs alongside the paddling trail. Hikers can often watch kayakers and canoers glide by.

Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge and the surrounding areas are also the only places in the world where the endangered red wolf lives in the wild. An epic success story, red wolves were declared extinct in the wild in 1980. But in 1987, four captive bred wolves were released into Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. Since their return, more than 100 wolves now roam the area, and recent studies confirm that the wolves’ return has helped strengthen the ecosystem.

Black bears forage throughout the refuge.

The refuge hosts Red Wolf Howling Safaris (guided tours where visitors have the chance to hear wolf packs howling in the wild) from April through December–attracting millions of visitors from all over the world.  You can register until Aug. 31 for one of the weekly scheduled summer tours or wait for special events like the Wings Over Water festival, which also includes a “wolf howl”.

Eastern North Carolina also has one of the biggest concentrations of black bears in the country. A special tour provides information about black bears and their habitat followed by an excursion to spot a bear or two on the refuge. But don’t worry, the tour guides will get you back in time for a wolf howling session.

Two hiking trails meander through the wetlands and forest. A kiosk provides info about the refuge and its wildlife at the start of the Creef Cut Wildlife Trail, which has access ramps for wheelchairs and walkers. The trail ends at a massive boardwalk overlooking freshwater marshlands, where waterfowl and shorebirds gather.

The dedicated staff has made this a paradise for nature enthusiast and the refuges natural beauty makes it one of the top destinations for wildlife observers in the country.

The Sandy Ridge Trail ambles through cypress swamp and runs alongside the paddling trail. Hikers can often watch kayakers and canoers glide by. Lucky observers might even spot an alligator swimming in the streams.

American Alligator, Courtesy Ginger Corbin/USFWS

The refuge stands out for its long list of special events, interactive activities, and opportunities for natural observation. Other attractions include a car tour route, overlooks for photography and 15 miles of paddling trails.

The dedicated staff has made this a paradise for nature enthusiast and the refuge’s natural beauty makes it one of the top destinations for wildlife observers in the country.

Go experience all that this amazing place has to offer and TAKE REFUGE at the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in Dare and Hyde counties in North Carolina.

Restored marsh at Blackwater NWR (area inside stakes used to be open water) Photo courtesy Noah Matson

Two years ago I had the opportunity to visit Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge on the eastern shore of Maryland with a few other Defenders colleagues.  The refuge, at over 27,000 acres, is one of the largest protected areas in the state, and is famous among birders and local residents for its large concentrations of migrating waterfowl and shorebirds, bald eagles, and is also home to the endangered Delmarva fox squirrel.  Since the 1930’s, however, Blackwater has lost over 8,000 acres of marsh from a combination of sea level rise, subsidence, and the impact of invasive nutria that eat marsh grass and contribute to erosion.

It isn’t the only coastal refuge attempting to stave off rising waters. Two hundred miles south from Blackwater lies the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge.  Made up of “pocosin,” a type of forested wetland found in the coastal plain of eastern North Carolina, the refuge is home to the only wild population of endangered red wolves in the world.  Most projections of sea level rise put a large portion of the refuge under water in the next 50 years.

As stewards of protected areas and wildlife populations, we have to ask – why does it matter if these places go under water? If they disappear, where will the wildlife that rely on these protected places go?

These situations have been met with drastic measures. At Alligator River, refuge staff, the Nature Conservancy and other partners are implementing measures to slow coastal erosion and salt water intrusion in order to protect forests and marshes. And the Blackwater refuge has restored 20 acres of marsh by experimenting with a dredger to spray mud onto former marsh to raise the marsh bed, followed by planting marsh grasses to stabilize the soil. A decade later that marsh remains. Unfortunately, the refuge continues to lose 300 acres per year. So the refuge staff has an audacious proposal: barge or pipe mud and soil from the dredging of the Baltimore harbor approach channel in the Chesapeake Bay to the refuge to repeat the marsh restoration on thousands of acres, a cost of over a billion dollars.

As stewards of protected areas and wildlife populations, we have to ask – why does it matter if these places go under water? If they disappear, where will the wildlife that rely on these protected places go? These are questions an individual refuge manager cannot answer alone.

With the loss of Alligator River, endangered red wolves may have nowhere to go.

In preparing wildlife and natural resources for the impacts of climate change, we must take a big-picture view. Before zeroing in on a particular place, we need new tools and institutions to help policy makers, managers and scientists work together to understand how wildlife and habitats will respond to the impacts of climate change regionally and across jurisdictional boundaries. The Obama administration has launched a number of initiatives that hold some promise for achieving this goal, creating the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives and crafting a National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy. It isn’t everything we need, but it’s a start.

Keeping Blackwater and Alligator River from sinking into the sea – and protecting all of our refuges from the impacts of climate change – is critical. We need to do so in the context of addressing the much bigger task before us, figuring out how to help prepare entire systems of wildlife and habitat for the impacts of a not-so-slowly changing world.

Learn more:

Learn more about the threats facing Alligator River, and the measures being taken to save it, in the NPR piece, A Struggle to Fight Back the Sea.

Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge is the first national wildlife refuge in the nation to develop a comprehensive strategy to adapt to sea-level rise. Read more about the efforts the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are taking to rescue the refuge from rising seas.

See how Defenders is working to protect wildlife and protected lands from the threats of climate change.

Red wolves may have something to howl about very soon. The Museum of Life and Science in North Carolina announced Tuesday that its female red wolf may be expecting a litter of pups!

According to museum staff, the female wolf (named 1287), has been showing signs of pregnancy. Recently, she has been digging more than normal, burying food, and removing areas of belly hair—a common preparation for nursing.

Once ranging throughout the southeastern U.S. from Pennsylvania to Florida and as far west as Texas, habitat destruction and extermination nearly brought red wolves to extinction by 1980. Now, thanks to captive breeding programs and reintroduction to a restoration area in North Carolina, the species is slowly making a comeback.

A new wolf litter–between two to nine pups–would be a huge benefit to the fragile population of only 300 wolves (captive and wild combined). The parents of this potential litter have desirable genes that scientists want to keep in the mix. Creating diversity in the gene pool is extremely important to the survival of such a critically endangered species as the red wolf.

Even though this potential pregnancy is taking place in captivity, a new litter can still benefit wild wolves. Occasionally, captive pups can be introduced to wild wolf litters. And since interbreeding with coyotes has become the most significant threat to recovery in their native habitat, captive breeding programs are essential to a successful red wolf comeback.

Learn more

Read more about the endangered red wolf on Defenders’ fact sheet or on our Species Spotlight: Red Wolves.

Get more information on captive breeding of red wolves from the Red Wolf Coalition.

(Scene: hiker spots something in the woods at Alligator National Wildlife Refuge, North Carolina)

“What was that? It looked like a wolf! Must have been a coyote… Wolves aren’t found in this part of the country, right?”

Oh, but they are!

The endangered red wolf (cousin to the gray wolf out West) roams the wilds of northeastern North Carolina. Historically, red wolves ranged throughout the southeastern U.S. from Pennsylvania to Florida and as far west as Texas. But by 1980, the red wolf was virtually extinct in the wild because of habitat destruction and extermination. Now, thanks to captive breeding programs and reintroduction to a restoration area in North Carolina, red wolves number over one hundred.

Red wolves look like delicate versions of gray wolves, except with longer muzzles, larger ears, and fur tinged reddish brown in some spots. Like grays, they live in packs and are most active at night – that’s when they howl. The Alligator River NWR actually offers ‘howling safaris’, where you can visit the refuge at night and experience the thrill of hearing red wolves communicating with each other.

What Defenders Is Doing

Red wolves resemble coyotes, which unfortunately leads to many mistaken identity deaths caused by humans. To reduce the confusion, Defenders partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Red Wolf Recovery Team and the Red Wolf Coalition to produce a red wolf education guide for hunters.

Defenders is exploring the economic and environmental benefits of red wolves, in order to inform policy makers and landowners. Our latest report discusses the receptivity of landowners towards payment in exchange for conservation practices.

Learn More

Click here to read more about the red wolf.

Watch a video of the red wolf courtesy of USFWS.