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Rare wolf species faces growing threat in N.C.EAST LAKE (AP) — It’s been 20 years since the nearly extinct red wolf was reintroduced to North Carolina and still the animals number just about 120, making them some of the rarest mammals on the planet.The Charlotte Observer reported Sunday that the biggest barrier to the species' population arowth is humans with shotguns and a dis-C-dain for the animals that can prey on domestic animals.“When hunting season starts, I say a little prayer,” said Kim Wheeler, director of the education group Red Wolf Coalition,Between 1999 and 2006, gunshots accounted for 32 percent of the deaths among breeding wolves and six to eight have been gunned down yearly since 2007. Illegally killing a red wolf can cost up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine.“There are people who honestly mistake a wolf for a coyote,1' said David Rabon, a recovery coordinator with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “And there are people who conveniently forget what a wolf looks like.11The wolves were first released in North Carolina’s 154,000-acre Alligator River refuge in 1987, but the first four pair were ill-equipped to live in the wild and quickly died. The population on the Albemarle peninsula has remainedstable at 100 to 120 in recent years. All were born there except for a few captive-born pups reared by wild mothers, pumping fresh blood into the gene pool.But the peninsula is home to some of North Carolina’s prime hunting land, boasting deer, bear and waterfowl. And two-thirds of the peninsula is owned by private landowners, many who think the red wolves are ravenous predators who reduce the number of game animals or go after domestic animals, such as chickens, cats and dogs.“Eve heard it said many times, when they see them they’re going to put a bullet in them because it’s ruining what they enjoy doing,” said Dennis Benston, who owns a sporting goods and firearms store in Engelhard on the peninsula’s southern end.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says it has paid damages for wolves killing people’s animals only a half-dozen*times since 1987.But Benston thinks the agency doesn't fess up to all the problems the wolves can cause.“It’s bred into these animals to just constantly kill and not because they're hungry,'’ said Benston, who also is a retired state forest raneer.Wildlife officials say they hope a new management plan can help the wolves and peoplelive more compatibly on the peninsula. For one, they say, the wolves and their howls bring in tourists.The Red Wolf Coalition’s weekly howling safaris are so popular with refuge visitors that visitors can only get on them if they make a reservation. The coalition is raising money for a viewing center where tourists can see and hear the animals.The wolves also help control rodents such as nutria that damage drainage ditches, crop-munching deer and foxes and coyotes that prey on gamefowl such as quail.While the official recovery goal is 220 animals in the wild in three different locations, some scientists think the peninsula has reached wolf capacity.“I think the limitations are space. They’re close to saturation at Alligator River,” said Randy Fulk, education curator at the North Carolina Zoo. which is among the more than 40 facilities that together have about 180 captive wolves.The new management plan must first bring together the agencies that manage the various wildlife on the peninsula. The Fish and Wildlife Service is in charge of wolves while North Carolina’s Wildlife Resources Commission oversees coyotes and foxes.
Newspaper Details
Tarboro Daily Southerner
Tarboro, North Carolina, US
Mon, Jul 12, 2010
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Andrew M.
USA 29 Jul 2023
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