A red wolf. Photo: Sam Bland
RALEIGH Hanging on by a Darwinian thread in northeastern North Carolina, the world’s only known wild red wolves may soon get a population boost, with a federal judge ruling late last week that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must again release captive-bred red wolves into the management area.
With only seven collared and about a dozen or so untagged wild red wolves remaining in the management area, 1.7 million acres of public and private land in Beaufort, Dare, Hyde, Tyrrell and Washington counties, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina Judge Terrence Boyle sided with conservation groups, ruling that the agency was “likely” in violation of the Endangered Species Act and must take immediate actions to save the species.