An endangered red wolf was killed by a vehicle near the Outer Banks. It’s the fourth death in 10 months.

Muppet, one of the last red wolves left in the wild, was hit by a car and killed last month at Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge near the Outer Banks. He is one of four red wolves to die in a vehicle strike over the past 10 months, according to a nonprofit working to protect endangered species.

His death is another major blow to efforts to save the species, with its population now numbering fewer than 20 in the wild.

Muppet’s father also was killed by a vehicle strike six months earlier along the same stretch of Highway 64, which runs through Alligator River refuge, the Center for Biological Diversity said in a news release.

“The world’s most endangered wolves should not be roadkill, especially when we know that building wildlife crossings could save them from being hit by vehicles,” Will Harlen, a senior scientist at the center, said in the release

Muppet was named for his conspicuously long, thick neck and was a member of Alligator River’s Milltail Pack, one of only two families of red wolves in the wild. The pack consists of a breeding male and female and nine surviving offspring, according to the center.

Muppet, who was 2, was the eldest of the pack’s juvenile wolves and helped protect the pups his father left behind.

According to the center, Muppet, his father and two other red wolves were killed by vehicles in the past year in the same area: An unnamed female pup identified as 2501F was killed by a vehicle strike in December, and an adult female was hit in July.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the agency’s Red Wolf Recovery Program, did not immediately return requests for comment.

The red wolf once roamed much of the southeastern United States, but was placed on the endangered species list in the early 1970s — the population decimated by shrinking territory, aggressive predator control programs, in-breeding with coyotes and competition from other predators. Fourteen remaining red wolves were captured in Texas and Louisiana before the extinction declaration and were used to establish a breeding program.

In 1987, a few mated pairs were released as an experiment in reintroduction at the Alligator River refuge. That experiment grew to a population of more than 120 red wolves roaming over 2,765 square miles in northeast North Carolina.

But over the past decade, the recovery program has stumbled, and nearly ended for good. The effort weathered federal budget cuts, poachers, vocal landowners calling the wolves nothing but coyote-hybrids and shooting them on sight and little support from the public.

In 2020, recovery efforts began again with the introduction of several wolves from the breeding programs. Today, there are roughly 280 captive and wild red wolves and 49 breeding and management facilities across the country.

Gunshots remain the leading cause of death among North Carolina’s wild red wolf population, with vehicle strikes a close second.

Last year, U.S. Fish and Wildlife and its partners posted “Red Wolf Crossing” signs along highways in their territory and closed several roads and refuge farm fields to all traffic, including foot traffic, because there were too many sightseers.

Now, a coalition of 15 national and regional organizations is requesting $10 million in funds from the North Carolina legislature to fund more wildlife crossings across the state, including crossings along Highway 64 in red wolf territory.

“To stop cars from killing these desperately endangered animals, we need to create wildlife crossings in their last refuges,” said Harlan. “Wildlife crossings can protect human lives and save red wolves from extinction.”