8 pups born to critically endangered red wolf pack near the Outer Banks
A day after news broke of a fourth red wolf death in 10 months on a highway off the Outer Banks, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Friday announced a new litter for the critically endangered species.
Eight red wolf pups were born last month to the Milltail pack, a family of wolves living at the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge on the mainland just west of the Outer Banks.
“While this is the third year in a row for a litter in that area, it was far from a given that it would occur this year after the tragic loss of 2323 (the previous breeding male in the Milltail family group) in September 2023,” the U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s Red Wolf Recovery Program said in a social media post.
Last spring, “2323” was the only breeding male American red wolf in the wild. He and his mate produced two litters in two years, a major victory in coaxing back a species declared extinct in 1980. He was struck by a car and killed on U.S. Highway 64 in September.
Red wolves live in the wild in five eastern North Carolina counties: Dare, Hyde, Tyrrell, Beaufort and Washington, after a few mated pairs were released in 1987 as an experiment in reintroduction at the Alligator River refuge.
Over the past decade, the recovery program has struggled, with the population dwindling to as few as a dozen left in the wild.
In 2020, recovery efforts began again with the introduction of several wolves from the captive breeding programs.
After the death of Red Wolf 2323, recovery coordinators made “a bold attempt to create a new breeding pair,” the program’s post said.
An acclimation pen was quickly constructed in October at Alligator River within the home range of 2323’s mate. A male red wolf born at Wolf Haven International in Washington state as part of the Red Wolf SAFE (Saving Animals From Extinction) program, was then placed in it. He was released from the pen in late January, timed to breeding season. He and the female soon became a pair.
Biologists monitored them through winter and early spring, seeing hopeful signs that “this somewhat of a longshot new pairing was looking more and more like it was going to be successful,” the post said.
A peek inside the den on April 18 revealed eight “small, content red wolf pups all cuddled together in a ball,” USFW said.
The pups were estimated to be about nine days old and their eyes were not open yet. They were quickly examined, microchipped for future identification, and cheek swabbed for genetics before the team retreated from the den.
“No further attempts will be made to go into or anywhere near the den since the best thing for these pups now is to give them the space and solitude they need to be raised in the wild,” the post said.
