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Kensli Tindall
Mrs. DeBock
English 4 Honors
13 October 2015
Red Wolf Reintroduction Program of North Carolina
From the stories of Little Red Riding Hood to The Grey, a Liam Neeson movie where
wolves snarl in the darkness beyond the campfires glow, this iconic American animal is often
portrayed as a vicious blood-hungry canid. The perception-reality debate is one that has dogged
wolf recovery for a long time. The wolf conservationists argue that wolves are misunderstood.
Living cheek to jowl with North Americas wolves, settlers quickly came to fear and loathe these
formidable predators, which competed for deer and preyed on livestock. Spurred on by tales of
werewolves terrorizing the towns and villages of Europe, the Pilgrims and those who came after
them set about wiping wolves from the face of the continent. North Carolina is trying to get rid
of the Red Wolf Reintroduction program because people felt as though they had no way of
protecting their livestock, their property, the impact on other wildlife, and complained how its
the American spirit to be able to protect ones livelihood.
According to Oosthoek, Weaned on terrifying tales of killer wolves from the likes of
Aesop and the brothers Grimm, they immediately set to work exterminating them, and very
nearly succeeded in the case of red and eastern wolves. There is roughly 50 to 75 red wolves
living in the wild and over 200 living in captivity. Fear of starvation was an equally powerful

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incentive to wipe out wolves. Both colonists and wolves relied on deer to fill their bellies, and
when overhunting sent deer numbers plummeting the settlers blamed the wolves. (Oosthoek)
This fear of starvation, along with the fear of terrifying killers red wolves were hunted down
and killed, not for food and their skin but because of fear. "Wolfers hired by the livestock
industry and the federal government laid out strychnine-poisoned meat lines 150 miles long,"
says Hutt. Hutt goes on to explain, "Wolves were shot, poisoned, trapped, clubbed and set on
fire."
According to Oosthoek, Wolfers and landowners threaded baited fish hooks deep into
wolf dens, waiting for the pups to swallow the hooks before dragging them out and killing them.
For the settlers, simply killing the animals was not always enough: they wanted revenge. They
dug pit-traps and filled them with sharp stakes so wolves might fall in and impale themselves.
Injured wolves were pulled out, hamstrung and then thrown to packs of dogs to be torn apart.
Sometimes they cut off a wolf's lower jaw and set it free to starve to death. This is the main
reason that red wolves are virtually extinct to this day.
According to Dybas, Aggressive predator control programs and clearing of forested
habitat combined to bring the red wolf to the edge of extinction. Another factor that endangered
the red wolf population was when the few remaining red wolves had difficulty finding an ideal
mate of their own species, they frequently mingled with the more abundant coyotes. From 1974
to 1980, the 400-plus animals in the remnant population were rounded up and evaluated for red
wolf characteristics. Only 17 true red wolves were identified. (Dybas 3) Later on 14 of those
17 were chosen to be the founders to begin the red wolf captive breeding program. In 1987
the first four captive-bred pairs were released in the Alligator River Refuge, and a year later
wild-born pups were found in a den on the refuge. (Dybas 3)

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In the North Carolina Wants Feds to End Red Wolf Rewilding Program, Our sense of
perception was some of the people that lived in that area, particularly the property owners, felt as
though they had no way of protecting their livestock, their property, in some cases their kids,
should coyotes or red wolves or the hybrids show up. Its sort of the American spirit that [you]
should be able to do things to protect your property and your livelihood, and with the injunction,
the court said, No, you cant hunt coyotes. You cant shoot red wolves. Local communities
have the fear of predators once again. They believe that the red wolves would harm the children
and kill off the live-stock. When in reality, the local communities had to deal with predators
before, the coyotes. Local communities in eastern North Carolina havent always had to deal
with predators. In the 1980s, he said, coyotes were not an issue, and red wolves hadnt been
reintroduced yet. Today, both canids are present, and people are concerned about public safety,
livestock, and impact on other wildlife like deer. (North Carolina Wants Feds to End Red Wolf
Rewilding Program 2) Because of us, we are hindering the red wolf reintroduction program.
Theres a saying in wildlife management: We all get into it because we love wildlife, and we
end up spending 95 percent of our time with people issues and about 5 percent with wildlife
issues. (North Carolina Wants Feds to End Red Wolf Rewilding Program 2)
According to the Captive Wolf Management, A remnant population of red wolves was
found along the Gulf coast of Texas and Louisiana. In 1973, red wolves were declared an
endangered species. By 1980, the U.S. Wildlife and Fishing created the Red Wolf
Reintroduction program to help the remaining red wolf population grow. By 1987, enough red
wolves were bred in captivity to begin a restoration program on Alligator River National Wildlife
Refuge in northeastern North Carolina. (Captive Wolf Management 1) Scientist have come to

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the conclusion, that 50-75 red wolves in the wild, and over 200 in captivity because of the Red
Wolf Recovery Program.
In conclusion, the red wolf reintroduction program is important to help save the red
wolves. People shouldnt be afraid of the red wolves just because of bedtime stories. Red wolves
are nocturnal creatures and dont come out unit late at night. By keeping the red wolf
reintroduction program we will be helping them survive. We do not need to scared of the things
that go bump at night anymore.

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"Captive Wolf Management | Red Wolf Recovery Program." Captive Wolf Management |
Red Wolf Recovery Program. Web. 22 Sept. 2015.
Dybas, Cheryl Lyn. "Red Wolf's Last Stand." Natural History 120.7 (2012): 24.
MasterFILE Premier. Web. 22 Sept. 2015.
"North Carolina Wants Feds to End Red Wolf Rewilding Program." North Carolina
Wants Feds to End Red Wolf Rewilding Program. Web. 22 Sept. 2015.
Oosthoek, Sharon. "The Decline, Fall and Return Of The Red Wolf." New Scientist
197.2644 (2008): 46. Science Reference Center. Web. 22 Sept. 2015.