Management Techniques: Radio Telemetry

Restoring red wolves is a more involved process than simply opening a pen or kennel door and releasing wolves into the natural environment to find food, shelter, and a mate. Because red wolves are wide-ranging and secretive, field biologists with the Red Wolf Recovery Program need to employ various methods and techniques to monitor the wolf population. The primary method used to monitor red wolves is radio telemetry. Without radio telemetry it would be nearly impossible to monitor the location of a wolf, their movements and interactions with other wolves, their home range, territory, and the types of habitat they use, the location of their dens, and their ultimate fate.


But before we can monitor or track red wolves, we must first capture the wolf (see Management Techniques: Trapping and Traps) and fit it with a radio telemetry collar. Each collar emits a pulse signal at a unique radio frequency. When biologists wish to locate a particular wolf, they dial the unique frequency of that wolf’s collar on the telemetry receiver and listen for a signal through a headset. The signal becomes audible when the wolf is within range of the antenna, and stronger when the antenna is pointed in the direction of the wolf.


Radio-tracking wolves on the ground is done using a hand-held or a truck-mounted antenna. Wolves can also be radio-tracked from the air. Attaching radio telemetry antennae to the wings of an airplane allow field biologists to monitor the entire population of red wolves in the recovery area in a shorter period of time than when using ground telemetry alone.


Radio telemetry allows us to remotely monitor the free-ranging red wolves, collect important biological and ecological information on the population, and determine the overall success of the Red Wolf Recovery Program. -- Ryan

Management Techniques: Trapping and Traps

There are several reasons it is necessary for Red Wolf Recovery Program field biologists to capture wild red wolves, including to fit a wolf with a new telemetry collar or to replace an old or non-functioning telemetry collar, or to provide medical treatment to a sick or injured wolf. Trapping is one of the most efficient and effective means for the Red Wolf Recovery Program biologists to capture red wolves.



We use a steel leg-hold trap, which requires an animal to step in the center of the trap triggering it to close on the animal’s foot. The traps we use are referred to as a "soft-catch" trap because of the rubber-padded "jaws." Obviously, it would not benefit us to injure the very animal we are trying to conserve, so our traps are highly modified to reduce injury.


The rubber-padded jaws, shock absorbers, and swivels in the trap design lessen the impact of the trap on the animal’s foot. In addition, we set our traps with a drag instead of staking the traps to the ground, which also greatly reduces potential injury to the wolves. Other variables that we consider in the safety and appropriateness of using leg-hold traps when trapping include the age of the target animal, weather conditions, how far the animal can travel after being trapped, other non-target animals in the area, and the level and experience of the field biologist. Field biologists with the Red Wolf Recovery Program have, on average, 16 years of experience trapping red wolves. -- Art

2010 pup season drawing to a close

As the days grow longer and hotter during spring’s transition into summer, field biologists with the Red Wolf Recovery Program also begin a transition. April and early May represent the ever busy denning season, during which biologists spend the majority of their time creeping through the woods in search of newborn red wolf puppies. The current tally of litters found this year stands at eight, a bit of a disappointment after finding 11 litters a year ago. But this year's pup count is 39, which was close to last year's 41 pups. In addition, two captive born pups were flown in from the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago and fostered into a wild litter to be raised by wild parents . Fostering captive born pups into wild litters is a technique we have used for several years now (with great success!) as a method of both increasing the red wolf population and preserving genetic diversity.


Now, as summer approaches and the pups get older, the search for additional dens will diminish as biologists begin to make the transition to summertime trapping, maintenance, and catching up on office work. We will, however, continue to monitor the wolf packs throughout the summer months for evidence of potential litters that may have been missed during the denning season. -- Ryan

Long search produces great reward... more red wolf pups!

Four female red wolf puppies (10-12 days old) were our reward for a long, hot day of crawling through thick mats of vegetation and entanglements of vines and briers. The Rich pack's den was finally located in a hole dug into the root system of a large pine tree. To get to it we spent hours searching, literally crawling on our hands and knees, sometimes wriggling along on our bellies through a labyrinth of tunnels underneath a fortress of vegetation so thick that there was really no other way through it.


Still, we couldn't’t help but be impressed with the mother wolf’s selection of a den site – these puppies were definitely well hidden. Although we left the puppies at the den, we did manage to bring home with us a nice collection of ticks, briers, and poison ivy as a keepsake. We don’t refer to the denning season as the ‘itchy season’ for nothing. -- Ryan

Spring brings red wolf pups!

Spring is a special time of year for the field biologists with the Red Wolf Recovery Program. The days are getting longer, the temperatures are warming, and red wolves will soon be giving birth to pups!

These two female pups, born to the Kilkenny pack on or about April 18, 2010, were estimated to be about 7 to 8 days old when found. Red wolves rear their young in dens of shallow depressions with dense vegetation for cover or in deep burrows along the slopes of brushy windrows or canal banks. They also may create a den at the base of a large tree, which is where these two pups were found. Pregnant females may dig several dens during the breeding season. Den areas are used from April through July, corresponding to the whelping and pup-rearing periods. Litter sizes can range from 1 to 11 pups, with an average of four pups per litter.

Are there alligators at Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge?

This alligator is a frequent spring and summertime traffic stopper along the section of Highway 64 that cuts through Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. The photo was taken on a warm, sunny morning in early April when one of the first 'gator jams' of the season indicated that winter hibernation was officially over. Northeastern North Carolina represents the northern extent of the alligator's range in the United States. -- Ryan

Sandy Ridge entertainer moves to Jacksonville Zoo

Staff working at Sandy Ridge, the Red Wolf Recovery Program's captive-breeding facility at Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, have been substantially less entertained as of late. On February 8, 2010, a male red wolf (SB#1390), known for antics ranging from strutting around and chewing on trees in an attempt to display his toughness to playing a game of "keep away" with an unsuspecting biologist’s backpack, was sent to the Jacksonville Zoo in Florida. There he will be paired with his new lady-friend and put on display to share his antics with a wider audience than just refuge staff. The captive-breeding facility at Sandy Ridge is part of the Species Survival Plan® Program, and as such, is involved in an annual transfer of red wolves among zoos and facilities across the nation for breeding purposes and to maximize genetic diversity of the species. -- Ryan