May 17: Endangered Species Day 2013

Endangered Species Day logo by Jill Hennessey/USFWS.

May 17^th is Endangered Species Day! This week the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Red Wolf Recovery Program are recognizing the national conservation effort to protect our nation’s endangered species and their habitats.

Endangered Species Day is an opportunity for everyone to learn about the importance of protecting endangered species and everyday actions that people can take to help protect our nation’s disappearing wildlife and last remaining open space. Not sure what you can do?  Check out these top 10 tips from the Endangered Species Coalition:

1) Learn about endangered species in your area:  Teach your friends and family about the wonderful wildlife, birds, fish and plants that live near you!

2) Visit a national wildlife refuge, park or other open space:  Get involved by volunteering at your local nature center, zoo, or wildlife refuge or go wildlife or bird watching in nearby parks. 

3) Make your home wildlife friendly:  Secure garbage in shelters or cans with locking lids, feed pets indoors and lock pet doors at night to avoid attracting wild animals into your home. Reduce your use of water in your home and garden so that animals that live in or near water can have a better chance of survival. Disinfect bird baths often to avoid disease transmission.

4) Provide habitat for wildlife by planting native vegetation in your yard: Native plants provide food and shelter for native wildlife. Attracting native insects like bees and butterflies can help pollinate your plants. 

5) Minimize use of herbicides and pesticides: Many herbicides and pesticides take a long time to degrade and build up in the soils or throughout the food chain, find alternatives to pesticides. 

6) Slow down when driving:  One of the biggest obstacles to wildlife living in developed areas is roads—slow down and keep an eye out for wildlife.

7) Recycle and buy sustainable products: Buy recycled paper, sustainable products like bamboo and Forest Stewardship Council wood products to protect forest species. 

8) Never purchase products made from threatened or endangered species:  Be careful about bringing back souvenirs from overseas trips. Avoid supporting the market in illegal wildlife including: tortoise-shell, ivory, and coral.  Be careful of products including fur from tigers, polar bears, sea otters and other endangered wildlife, crocodile skin, live monkeys or apes, most live birds including parrots, macaws, cockatoos and finches, some live snakes, turtles and lizards, some orchids, cacti and cycads, medicinal products made from rhinos, tiger or Asiatic black bear. 

9) Report any harassment or shooting of threatened and endangered species: Harassing wildlife is cruel and illegal. Shooting, trapping, or forcing a threatened or endangered animal into captivity is also illegal and can lead to their extinction. Don't participate in this activity, and report it as soon as you see it to your local state or federal wildlife enforcement office.

10) Protect wildlife habitats: The greatest threat that faces many species is the widespread destruction of habitat. By protecting habitat, entire communities of animals and plants can be protected together. Parks, wildlife refuges, and other open space should be protected near your community. Open space also provides us with great places to visit and enjoy. Support wildlife habitat and open space protection in your community. When you are buying a house, consider your impact on wildlife habitat.

In partnership with the Endangered Species Coalition and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, events will be scheduled throughout the country. To find an event near you, you can explore the calendar provided by the Endangered Species Coalition.

2013 Foster Pup

Pup season is winding down now here at the Red Wolf Recovery Program. Totals for 2013 will be announced shortly, but in the meantime, we thought we’d share a foster opportunity we had last week.  A female red wolf pup was born in late April this year at the Sandy Ridge captive site, the Red Wolf Species Survival Plan facility on Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge.  She was the sole survivor of her litter.  This presented a good opportunity to foster her into a wild litter of similar age.  Fostering pups from a captive litter to a wild litter has been a successful tool used by the Red Wolf Recovery Program as a means to increase the numbers of wild red wolves and enhance the genetic diversity of the wild population. 

Pup fostering was first used in 2002, when two captive-born pups were successfully fostered into a wild litter.  Since then, we have seen some success with pup fostering with similar efforts.  In fact, no wild red wolf mother has ever been known to reject a fostered pup, and the fostered pups’ survival rates appear to be equal to that of their wild-born packmates.  There are several factors that can determine the likelihood of successful fostering. Ideally, the pups need to be no older than two-weeks of age at the time of the fostering.  During this time, the strong maternal instinct of the mother decreases the likelihood of pup rejection. The pups have limited mobility at this age as well, which ensures they will stay in or nearby the den site (and the mother).  We also aim to have all the pups similar in age, which can reduce any one-sided competition for food.  Lastly, a potential foster mother is usually selected based on her having a relatively low number of pups in her litter. 

 Female pup in transport. Photo credit: USFWS/B. Bartel

Pup processing: collecting blood and inserting the transponder.
Photo credits: USFWS/B. Bartel

In this case, there were two female pups already present in the wild litter, and all the pups were between 9-11 days old.  Once the new foster pup was covered with the scent (urine) of the other pups in the litter, all three pups were placed back into the den. We’ll keep you posted on their progress!

  The new pack! Photo credit: USFWS/B. Bartel

To learn more, you can check out previous blogs on pup processing techniques or previous fostering efforts.

Please welcome Lizzy, the new Red Wolf Recovery Program intern!

Please help us welcome our most recent addition to the Red Wolf Recovery Program, Lizzy!  She is the red wolf caretaker intern from April through August 2013. 

Lizzy grew up in Herndon, Virginia and attended the University of Delaware, where she double majored in Wildlife Conservation and Agriculture & Natural Resources. Since she was a kid, animals and nature have always been her two biggest passions, due in part of the fact she was in Girl Scouts for 13 years. Lizzy has always known that working with wolves would be her end goal, and she is very happy that she’s received the opportunity to make this dream into reality.

We are very lucky to have her part of the program, as she brings lots of experience from a variety of different wildlife jobs, beginning with teaching hunter education for Vermont Fish & Wildlife, teaching animal education at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado, and husbandry for a wide variety of animals at Plumpton Park Zoo in Maryland. Lizzy began working with wolves at the Wolf Education and Research Center in Idaho, where she cared for wolves and participated in visitor education programs. Now, Lizzy is continuing this path with the Red Wolf Recovery Program.

Photo credit: USFWS/R. Nordsven

Long term, Lizzy’s goal is to continue working with wolves and become a wolf biologist. Living out a childhood dream has already been an incredible experience for her, and she’s sure it can only get better from here. She is still figuring out the next role after this position, but we’re excited to have her here now, and you can guarantee her future will have something to do with animals and improving their world.

Welcome Lizzy!

Earth Day 2013

Earth Day is April 22^nd, and this year the focus of the celebration is on the Faces of Climate Change. While climate change may be abstract for a lot of people, we are observing effects of climate change in coastal North Carolina in the red wolf recovery area.  The coastal plain habitats in the northeastern North Carolina reintroduction site are slowly sinking while sea level is rising. T. Delene Beland recently wrote an article on how climate change may impact red wolf recovery.  Some experts consider Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge ground zero for sea level rise. Forests are being converting to salt meadows and marshes. While pond pines are suffering from salt intrusion and dying back, marsh grasses and in some cases, invasive species like Phragmites, are moving into these newly formed marshes.  This has immediate impacts for this area, as the eastern portion of the peninsula has an average elevation of a few feet above sea level. You can use the interactivegraphic on this site to visualize what a predicted 1-meter rise or more would look like on the peninsula.

How would these changes affect red wolves? Sea level rise means less available habitat as the peninsula contracts—up to a third of the current recovery area would be affected over the next century.  While red wolves are generalists and can eat a variety of prey, sea level rise also presents the dilemma of disappearing habitat and prey.

How has climate change impacted you? What are you doing to be part of the solution?

Red Wolf Summer Reading List

Over the next two months, there are some exciting new book and article releases on red wolf conservation and recovery.  We wanted to let you know about these upcoming resources now, so you can put them on your summer reading list.  We’ll post a reminder once things go to press as well!

We are very excited about the release of the new book, The Secret World of Red Wolves: The Fight to Save North America’s Other Wolf by T. DeLene Beeland.  DeLene is a science and nature writer who resides in Asheville, North Carolina.  Her new book is highly anticipated by the wolf conservationist community, as there currently no comprehensive resource on red wolves for adult readers.  In her book, she describes the natural history of this often misunderstood predator, discusses the natural history of the species and the evolution of red wolf recovery efforts. Her narrative is very objective, as she shares the viewpoints of scientists, advocates, local landowners, and even our own program staff here at the Red Wolf Recovery Program. The book, published by University of North Carolina Press, is scheduled to be released in early June, but is also currently available for pre-order through Amazon.  You can read an excerpt of it on the author’s website here.

DeLene also started a new group, Friends of the Red Wolf, to further support the conservation and recovery of wild red wolves. The group directly collaborates directly with the Red Wolf Recovery Program to help them achieve recovery goals for the red wolf through scientific research and adaptive management practices. Friends of the Red Wolf is part of The WILD Foundation, under which it has 501(c)3 status.  This non-profit organization and status allows donors to deduct their charitable contributions—so your donations will directly contribute to red wolf conservation.  These contributions will help purchase field supplies including VHF telemetry collars and help pay for veterinary services.  Check out their blog or Facebook page for more information!

Another book we’re really looking forward to is the graphic novel, Return of the Red Wolf. This educational project is a fantastic collaboration between the Red Wolf Species Survival Plan® (SSP) Education Advisor, Craig Standridge, and Washington artist, Beth Graham.  The novel is narrated by Graham, a red wolf at Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium, and aims to tell students about red wolf natural history, the recovery process, and how everyone can get involved in red wolf conservation.  While the novel is targeted towards 7^th graders, we have no doubt all ages will enjoy this read and appreciate the colorful, incredible artwork. 

This innovate education project was funded by the Point Defiance Zoological Society and the Tacoma Artists Initiative Program and will be published by Point Defiance Zoological Society and made available for order on Amazon.com.  All sales collected will go towards red wolf conservation efforts at two organizations: the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium Committee Fund (money that will be used to find grants that will benefit red wolves), and the Friends of the Red Wolf, ensuring that the novel sales will benefit both the wild and zoo-based red wolf populations.

Lastly, the summer 2013 issue of International Wolf magazine will be published for release soon!  We’re really looking forward to this issue as it will feature an interview of our Red Wolf Recovery Program Coordinator, David, by Neil Hutt.  Neil is a writer and educator, as well as the Chair of the Board of Directors for the Red Wolf Coalition, a partner and frequent collaborator.  The article about red wolf recovery is accompanied by photos by our Assistant Coordinator, Becky.  In this issue, Neil also reviews Delene’s book, The Secret World of Red Wolves: The Fight to Save North America’s Other Wolf.  Lots of good red wolf readings!