Views from telemetry flights

Currently the Red Wolf Recovery Program is monitoring ~65 red wild wolves and ~50 sterile coyotes in the field.  To track these radio-collared individuals, we use both aerial and ground telemetry techniques.  Telemetry flights are typically performed 2-3 times/week weather-permitting.  These efforts allow us to identify where collared animals are (and who they're with) on the landscape.  Our field coordinator, Art, snapped a few interesting photos last month during flights: Photo 1) shows the congregation of migratory tundra swans (Cygnus columbianus) on Pungo Lake (Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge) for the winter. At some points during the season, this lake and surrounding area (including Lake Mattamuskett) serves as vital feeding areas for 30,000+ swans.  Photo 2) shows an adult male wolf (shown in red square) resting near a white-tailed deer kill (shown in red circle).  These are tricky to see, but go to show how vigilant and alert the wolf biologists are to monitor from the air!

Photo Credits: A. Beyer/USFWS

2012: The 25th Anniversary of the Reintroduction of Red Wolves to North Carolina

Red wolves arrive at Manteo airport, 1987. Photo: USFWS.

With the close of 2012, we celebrated the 25^th anniversary of the reintroduction of red wolves into the northeastern North Carolina recovery area.  In the fall of 1987, eight wolves were released in Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge and surrounding areas. Over the years, we have faced many challenges, but the red wolf has continued to survive amidst changing habitats, policies, and management.  Today, the Red Wolf Recovery Program is still working towards recovery goals through conservation management, outreach, and education.  We’ve made a lot of progress—with an estimated 100-120 individuals established in the wild, and another 192 wolves in >40 captive breeding facilities participating in the Species Survival Plan program.  However, many factors, including human-caused mortality, continue to threaten the long-term success of the species.  Our overall recovery goals are the following:

1. Establish and maintain at least three red wolf populations via restoration projects within the historic range of the red wolf.   Each population should be numerically large enough to have the potential for allowing natural evolutionary processes to work within the species.   This must be paralleled by the cooperation and assistance of at least 30 captive-breeding facilities in the United States. 
2. Preserve 80% to 90% of red wolf genetic diversity for 150 years.
3. Remove threats of extinction by achieving a wild population of approximately 220 wolves and a captive population of approximately 330 wolves.

There still is a lot of work to do be done to achieve these goals.  We’re grateful for your continued support of red wolf conservation and recovery!!

October 14-20: Wolf Awareness Week and National Wildlife Refuge Week

It’s Wolf Awareness Week! Since 1996, this national event has served to educate folks on the roles wolves play in different natural communities. During Wolf Awareness Week, we encourage you to recognize the importance of wolves as an integral part of our landscapes and to engage others to become interested and active in wolf conservation. Many of our partner organizations are hosting Wolf Awareness Week events and have provided educational resources to continue spreading the word.

[2012 Wolf Awareness Week Poster by Aaron Yount.]

Each year, the Timber Wolf Alliance hosts an art contest to select the vision for the current year's Wolf Awareness Week poster. If you’re interested in ordering this year’s poster, you can request one here.

Wolf Awareness Week is also National Wildlife Refuge Week this year! Since Theodore Roosevelt established the first national wildlife refuge in 1903, the National Wildlife Refuge System has become the nation’s premier habitat conservation network, encompassing 150 million acres in 556 refuges and 38 wetland management districts. You can check out special events and programs through the National Wildlife Refuge System here. Here in North Carolina, the Red Wolf Recovery Program and the Alligator National Wildlife National Refuge will be hosting *free* red wolf howlings on Saturdays, Oct. 13th and 27th at 6:00pm. You are welcome to bring your family and learn about the endangered red wolf during a short presentation and visit to the refuge for a chance to hear the howls of the red wolves.

Endless Summer... at Sandy Ridge

Summer is a time of year when the Red Wolf Recovery Program staff tend to retreat from field work, especially trapping. The heat of the summer months makes trapping both somewhat unproductive and potentially dangerous to a trapped wolf. One project undertaken to pass the summer months was to complete some much needed maintenance work at Sandy Ridge, the captive red wolf facility at Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge.

[Before and after photo of the perimeter fence at Sandy Ridge. Photo credit: R. Nordsven/USFWS]

The majority of the maintenance work at Sandy Ridge was completed last summer, just before the arrival of Hurricane Irene (Category 1 hurricane making landfall near Cape Lookout, North Carolina on August 27, 2011). The work involved clearing trees that had grown into pens and through the perimeter fencing, as well as repairing damage to fences from fallen trees. Luckily, none of the trees were as large as the trees that fell during Hurricane Isabel, a Category 2 hurricane that made landfall between Cape Lookout and Ocracoke Island, North Carolina on September 18, 2003.

[Downed tree at Sandy Ridge after Hurricane Isabel 2003. Photo credit: USFWS]

Hurricane Isabel tracked its way across the mainland causing a great deal of damage to the Sandy Ridge facility, uprooting trees and destroying fences and sheds. Unfortunately, one large tree killed a captive red wolf when it fell on the den box where the wolf was riding out the storm. The destruction from Hurricane Isabel required many months of cleanup and repair. Thankfully, Irene proved to be much easier on the Red Wolf Recovery Program staff and wolves. Other than a few downed branches and limbs, the only real damage was to one side of an unoccupied pen that was hit by a fallen tree. Fortunately, this time, no wolves were harmed! -- Ryan

[Destroyed shed at Sandy Ridge after Hurricane Isabel 2003. Photo credit: USFWS]

A Fostering First!

This year marks a first in red wolf pup fostering in the Red Wolf Recovery Program. But first, what is fostering?

Fostering is when pups from one litter (typically a captive-born litter) are placed in another litter (typically a wild-born litter) to be raised by parents that are not their own. 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.

[Captive-born red wolf pups soon to be fostered into a wild litter. Photo credit: D. Beeland/USFWS]

The Red Wolf Recovery Program first fostered pups into a wild litter in 2002. A pair of two-week old pups born at the North Carolina Zoological Park were placed in a wild wolf den to be raised alongside the wild pups. The fostering was a success, and subsequent fostering efforts have yielded equal success. 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 “siblings.”

A few stipulations are adhered to when fostering pups, though. First, the pups are ideally no more than two-weeks of age at the time of the fostering. The mother’s maternal instinct is believed to be very strong with pups of this age, which decreases the likelihood of pup rejection. Also, the pups have limited mobility at this age, increasing the likelihood that they will stay in the den and not wander off before the mother returns. Another stipulation is that the captive-born pups should be very close in age to the wild-born pups. This decreases the likelihood of some of the pups out-competing others for food. Lastly, a potential foster mother is usually selected based on her having a relatively low number of pups in her litter, coupled with her proven ability to have successfully raised a litter in previous years. When combined, these conditions increase the likelihood that the mother wolf will be able to successfully raise a couple of extra pups added to her litter.

[Fostered red wolf pups in a den with their new "siblings." Photo credit: D. Beeland/USFWS]

So, what was so special about fostering pups in 2012? Well, this year we fostered two captive-born pups into a litter of three wild-born pups that were born to a mother that was once a captive-born fostered pup! In addition, two other wild red wolves (1 male and 1 female) that were once fostered pups had litters of their own this year!

These are a few of the great examples of how successful fostering pups has been through the years for the Red Wolf Recovery Program. -- Ryan

So you want to be a vet?

[The following blog was written by Alayna McGarry, a former Red Wolf Caretaker intern with the Red Wolf Recovery Program. Currently, Alayna is a Biological Science Technician with the Bureau of Reclamation in New Mexico.]

Whenever I have told people that I want to work with animals, they automatically ask me, “So you want to be a veterinarian then?”  I’ve always replied that I just wasn’t interested in that aspect of animals.  I would much rather go out into the wild and study their behaviors.  Of course they look at me like I’m crazy!  But after an incident at the vet’s office I now know that I’ll never be a vet, even if I wanted to!

One morning I was out at Sandy Ridge feeding the captive red wolves when I received a call from Michael, one of the Red Wolf Recovery Program biologists.  He told me he was planning to take a female coyote to get sterilized at the veterinarian’s office.  He asked for help capturing her, and since I had nothing else on my schedule I tagged along for the experience!  I had never actually watched a live surgery, but I love Grey’s Anatomy so I thought it would be similar.  Boy was I wrong!  I was in the operating room with the coyote on one table and a golden retriever being neutered on the other.  I was intrigued at what they were doing to the coyote but I tried not to pay too much attention to the retriever!  The coyote was only getting her tubes tied so it wasn’t a very invasive surgery, unlike the neutering.  Luckily, I had Michael there to distract me from what was going on.  While I watched from my peripherals I started to notice different body parts being pulled out of the retriever.  I started to think to myself, "That just isn’t natural."  We started to talk about the music that was on the radio and before I knew it I had forgotten about the surgeries.

After talking about random stuff for ten minutes, Michael said he would be right back.  "This isn’t going to be good," I thought.  I had nothing to distract me.  I didn’t want to pull out my cellphone because I didn’t want to insult the doctors.  I tried to watch the surgery and look as if I was interested in what was going on.  I’m sure they could tell by the look on my face that I was more disgusted than I was interested.  I started to focus on the retriever’s surgery and couldn’t get myself to stop watching.  The doctor was pulling out the different body parts and shoving them back in! Gross!  Next thing I knew, I started to get really warm and light headed.  I realized what was happening and pulled out my phone to try and distract myself.  It didn’t work.  I started to stare into space and lean to one side.  Just at that moment, Michael came back in and grabbed me.  He said he was trying to figure out what I was staring at when he realized that I was about to pass out.  He took me outside to get some fresh air and I felt much better!  I eventually went back into the OR to finish out her surgery but I made sure to stay distracted.  I was really embarrassed that I didn’t have the stomach for the surgery, but they invited me back!  Maybe I’ll eventually be able to watch the whole thing without a problem.  At least when someone asks me now if I want to be a vet, I can give them a good story as to why that will never be my profession!

Here’s a picture of me with a red wolf and one of the veterinarians that came out to Sandy Ridge for the annual checkup of the captive wolves. I was fine that day because there wasn’t any blood! -- Alayna

To be, or not to be... scared?

[The following blog was written by Alayna McGarry, a former Red Wolf Caretaker intern with the Red Wolf Recovery Program. Currently, Alayna is a Biological Science Technician with the Bureau of Reclamation in New Mexico.]

When I began my internship last August (2011) with the Red Wolf Recovery Program, I was still scared of working with the wolves.  My previous experience with the red wolves wasn’t the best.  At the time, I was an intern at the Salisbury Zoo (Salisbury, Maryland), a Red Wolf Species Survival Plan (RWSSP) facility, where we had a mom and her four pups.  Whenever I went into their exhibit they followed me around.  Not knowing their behavior really well, I thought they stalked me because they wanted me for food!  It also didn’t help that a young boy once screamed, “Watch out! They’re gonna get her!”  I was terrified!  I now know that the wolves are just curious.  They’re more scared of me than I am of them!  The captive-born zoo wolves were a little more used to humans, so they got a little bit closer than normal.

Once I arrived at Sandy Ridge for my orientation, I was told that I would be back with the wolves by myself.  "Great," I thought, "now if I get attacked no one will know!"  Before I knew it, it was 7:30 AM on my first day and there wasn’t a single bird chirping.  It was complete silence, just me and the wolves.  I checked to make sure I had my knife, just in case of course!  When I went to the first wolf pen they were nowhere to be found.  I fed them and gave them water and was done.  That was easy, only 4 more to go!  Turns out, none of the wolves were interested in me!  It was a big change from the zoo where they followed my every move.  These wolves had such little human interaction that they were still too scared to check me out.  Five months later they were just starting to feel comfortable enough to come within 10 feet of me.  Even then, they would go running at my slightest move!  I know that they are still wild animals even though they were captive-born, and that I should always be cautious of them, but I am no longer scared.  I don’t think they would ever work up the nerve to get close to me. 

Here’s one female red wolf who was scared with me just being in the pen to take her picture.

Needless to say, I think the wolves are more scared of us humans.  Even if we wanted to get close, they wouldn’t let us! -- Alayna