The life of 904F

Back in September (2010), the Red Wolf Recovery Program lost one of the longest-lived, wild red wolves in the program’s history. Female red wolf, known as 904F, who spent most of her life as the matriarch of the Milltail Pack on Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, was discovered dead on the west side of the refuge near the community of East Lake, Dare County, North Carolina. It appeared as if she died from natural causes.

904F was born on the west side of the refuge in the spring of 1997. She became the breeding female of the Milltail Pack when she was just two years of age, and held that position for many years raising several litters of pups. In late 2006, 904F was pushed out of her natal home range by a younger, stronger female red wolf.

[904F at 10 years of age, showing off her facial scars]
904F was captured again in 2007, and at 10 years of age she appeared to be weakening and wasn't expected to live much longer. However, she continued to surprise Red Wolf Recovery Program biologists with her resiliency, surviving three more winters and establishing a new territory for herself on private property well south of her natal range. It remains a mystery why she came back to her place of birth on the refuge just before she died.

Female red wolf 904F lived a full life, and will continue to be well represented by her offspring for generations to come. In fact, her son, 1544M, now nearly five years of age, is the breeding male of the Milltail Pack. -- Ryan

[1544M at 8 months of age, showing off his new radio telemetry collar]

Management Techniques: Processing a Red Wolf

Once a red wolf has been captured, it is placed in a kennel and transported to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Red Wolf Education and Health Care Facility, where it is “processed” before being released.

Wild red wolves are instinctively fearful of humans and are generally docile when handled. A wolf is typically restrained by placing a muzzle over its mouth, tying its hind legs together, and keeping a hand on its shoulder to hold it down. Occasionally a wolf may resist being muzzled to the extent that it must be sedated for the processing. Either way, all precautions are taken to maximize the safety of the wolf as well as the biologists handling the wolf.


Processing involves recording the wolf’s weight and body measurements, drawing a blood sample for future research, administering vaccines to prevent rabies and other common canid diseases, assessing the overall health of the wolf, and finally, fitting it with either a GPS or VHF radio telemetry collar so that it can be monitored upon release. After the processing is complete, the wolf is transported back to its home range and released.

Abdominal Transmissions

Biologists with the Red Wolf Recovery Program occasionally target capturing a juvenile red wolf in a trap, in which case it can be impossible to safely and effectively fit the young wolf with a radio telemetry collar. If the collar is fitted for the young wolf's current size, the wolf may continue to grow causing the collar to become too tight, and possibly even embed itself into the wolf’s neck. If the collar is attached too loose, the wolf may slip out of it and radio contact will be lost. The solution? Abdominal radio transmitters.


Three young siblings, born in the spring of 2010, were recently captured when they were just seven months old. Even for a seven-month-old red wolf pup they were a bit on the small side, weighing in at just over 30 pounds each. An adult red wolf can weigh anywhere from 45 pounds to 85 pounds. Knowing that they could still put on a considerable amount of weight before reaching adult size, we decided to implant them with abdominal transmitters rather than fit them with a radio telemetry collar.


The young wolves were transported to a local veterinarian, where they were sedated and prepared for surgery. A sterilized transmitter was inserted in the abdominal cavity of each wolf through a small incision. Each transmitter emits a pulse signal at a unique frequency which enables biologists to track the animal. After a short recovery period, the pups were transported back to their natal territory and released near their parents. -- Ryan

A Notable Capture

The fall trapping season began with a notable capture. This male wolf was born in 2009 at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, IL. He and his sister were fostered into a wild litter when they were just two weeks old.


Until his capture in late October we were uncertain if he had survived that first year as a pup. Having dispersed from his natal home range sometime last year, he was caught using a soft-catch trap in a territory belonging to a 2-year-old female wolf.


Radio-collared and released, our hopes are that he will remain in this area and pair-bond with the female wolf, forming a new breeding pair and possibly producing pups in 2011. -- Art

The Gulf Oil Clean-up Continues

As previously posted, field work in the Red Wolf Recovery Program slows down a great deal during the "dog-days" of summer, allowing field biologists to take some well-earned time off, as well as to prepare for the next long, busy field season (fall, winter, and spring). It also presents us with opportunities to assist with a variety of other U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service projects.

In past summers I have been involved in projects ranging from banding young pelicans and terns and watching over sea turtle nests and hatchlings to traveling around the country fighting wildfires. This summer a call for help came from the Gulf of Mexico to assist in the oil leak cleanup effort, and I decided to sign on.


When I arrived in the Gulf I was assigned to the Department of the Interior's Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR) Program. The NRDAR Program's primary mission is "to restore natural resources injured as a result of oil spills and other hazardous substance releases into the environment." My assignment was to conduct shoreline assessments of the marshes in southeast Louisiana's Mississippi River Delta region and document any oil found. The data I collected will be used to help assess any ensuing damage to the marshes caused by the oil.

Most of my days were spent on a boat (typically an airboat since they operate well in shallow water) surveying the marshes for oil and collecting pertinent data. I had never before been to the Mississippi River Delta region, but as I worked it really struck me what a unique, diverse, and important area it is, biologically, ecologically, economically, and culturally. The importance of preserving and protecting this region really hit home.


When my 30-day work detail was over, I decided to wrap things up with a nice weekend of R & R in New Orleans, and particularly the French Quarter (where this wildlife biologist experienced a different kind of "wildlife"... but that’s another story!). Overall, my time in the Gulf certainly was time well spent. It was a great experience I won’t soon forget. -- Ryan

A New Season

Today marks the first full day of Autumn. The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting cooler. For the field biologists with the Red Wolf Recovery Program that's a sign that the fall trapping season is right around the corner. It's also a sign that we need to do a little fall cleaning...


...and prepare for the long days of trapping by getting our trap gear in good working order.


Dirty Traps
We set hundreds of traps during the fall, and each trap has to be individually prepared for use. This means cleaning, boiling, and waxing the traps, replacing the rubber-padded jaws, and tuning them to catch red wolves.


Preparing traps is a laborious process, but everyone does their part to get the job done. And in the end a well prepared trap makes the field biologists' job of catching wolves a little easier.


Clean Traps

Working the Gulf Oil Leak Cleanup

Late July and early August is, in general, a slow period for the field biologists with the Red Wolf Recovery Program. The wolves have bred and are raising their young pups, and the high summer temperatures limit our field work because we don't want to stress the wolves. When the call came requesting assistance with the Gulf oil leak disaster, I thought it would be a good time to lend a hand with the clean-up efforts.


For the first two weeks of my four-week detail working on the Gulf oil leak, I lived on a barge in the Mississippi River Delta. The barge was located in Dennis Pass, a small cut through the delta emptying into the Gulf of Mexico, about 14 miles south of Venice, Louisiana (i.e. where the blacktop ends). As part of a team of local and national biologists, I spent most days on a small boat conducting wildlife rescue missions. Our primary duty was to survey remote beaches and marshes to locate oiled wildlife and transport them to rehabilitation centers.


On one memorable trip, we traveled 26 miles offshore via sport-fishing boat to rescue young Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles, a federally-endangered species. At times, the sea grass and oil would come together to form miles-long, thick windrow-like slicks. As the turtles swam in the waters of the Gulf, they would become entrapped in the mats of thick crude oil floating on the surface.


We netted five turtles from the oil that day, cleaned them off, and transferred them to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration boat for transport to a rehabilitation center for more extensive care and cleaning. By the time I left the Gulf a few weeks later, hundreds of federally endangered sea turtles had been saved from the oil-slicked waters. I believe that that day and the rest of my time spent in the Gulf was time well spent! -- Michael