People have killed nearly 10% of all the wild red wolves this year.

[n2doc]

by Jason Bittel

Authorities in North Carolina say they discovered another dead red wolf this week, apparently killed by a gunshot wound. Another is suspected dead, too, but wildlife officials were only able to recover its collar, which appears to have been cut off the animal. This marks four dead wolves since the beginning of October, and eight total killed this year.

Those numbers may not sound like much until you consider that there are only 90 to 100 wild red wolves left in existence. Living in northeastern North Carolina, this last handful of wolves (which were nearly wiped out by government-sanctioned hunting) is the result of an intense U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reintroduction effort that began in Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in the 1980s.

“Nearly 10 percent of red wolves living in the wild have been killed by poachers this year, putting the species on the fast track to extinction,” said Brett Hartl with the Center for Biological Diversity in a press release. “The actions of a few ignorant, misguided criminals have severely crippled the recovery of one of the rarest animals in the United States.”

As a result of the most recent spate of killings, the Center for Biological Diversity has doubled its donation to the bounty pool for information leading to an arrest, bringing its total contribution to $10,000. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, North Carolina Wildlife Federation, and the Humane Society of the United States have all also kicked in funds to bring the grand total to $26,000.

more

http://www.onearth.org/articles/2013/11/less-than-100-red-wolves-left-eight-have-been-killed-this-year

[JimboBillyBubbaBob]

1. This is ridiculous.

The Virginia Living Museum in Newport News, Va. has helped in the reintroduction process by placing specimens in the refuge that they had spent time rehabilitating. I have even seen two of the red wolves crossing the highway down there while driving through. This saddens and angers me that some gun nut wants to kill them. Hunting for food me arse!

[Scootaloo]

2. It follows a similar logic to trickle-down theory

The idea is, hunters just want to kill deer. So they have to kill all the wolves, coyotes, bobcats, cougars, and bears, because one of those might also kill a deer, meaning less deer for the human hunters to kill. See? It's like the need to eradicate seals to preserve the cod fishery! By slaughtering the predators, that just means that the hunters are providing more food for those predators, GOSH!

...And I really wish I were making up this "logic."

[bhikkhu]

4. Virginia has a huge deer population

and red wolves eat mostly rodents and rabbits, just occasionally white tailed deer.

Not that that would stop hunters from killing them, as logic isn't especially valued among those out in the woods with guns. I live in Oregon myself, and the idea that a wolf or two might come here from Idaho has all the locals up in arms, literally. "Kill on sight" seems to be the main policy toward wolves still. People trade stories about the toughness and savagery of wolves, and the hackles on the backs of their necks rise...

[Scootaloo]

5. I know, it's utter nonsense

Thankfully there are some brighter people i nthe world - absolutely nobody I knew in Alaska, over twelve years, condoned the wolf culls in the interior and kenai. But, you know, the state legislature there has always paid far more attention to out of staters than the locals, so we got a bunch of trophy hunters blowing wolves away from helicopters and calling it "population management."

[leftyladyfrommo]

3. People just like to kill things.

I keep wondering how long it will be before we really don't have any more wild animals in the wild. They are going fast.

All the large animals in Africa are being killed off by poachers. Lots of our predators are just about gone. They aren't safe in preserves either. The elephants in the preserves in Africa are being killed off by poachers putting cyanide into their drinking holes.

So sad. People can be so awful.

Pretty soon all that we will have left will be in zoo breeding programs.

[countryjake]

6. Less than 100 living wild? $26,000 reward?

We need to raise that bounty on the poachers even higher! Jeez.

This is so distressing. The defenders of these murderers would speak up and possibly turn them in if the financial reward weren't such a pittance!

I've seen these amazing creatures in a zoo here in wa and I believe that some of those reintroduced came from their captive-breeding program.

http://www.defenders.org/red-wolf/what-you-can-do





http://www.wolvesinformation.com/north-carolina-wolf