Feds to halt red wolf recovery program

The federal government is halting its wild red wolf recovery program in North Carolina as part of a reevaluation of the strategy for conserving the species.

The Monday decision comes nearly three decades after the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) started trying to reintroduce red wolves to the wild.

{mosads}About 45 of the wolves remain in the wild, and they will be moved to federal lands in North Carolina while the agency rethinks which wild areas it should pick for another reintroduction attempt, FWS said.

That’s down from the about 150 wild wolves who were alive in 2012. The population has dwindled due in part to coyote hunters accidentally shooting wolves.

“We believe the actions we’ve outlined today chart the correct path to achieve success,” Cindy Dohner, FWS’ southeast regional director, said in a statement.

The agency also hopes to increase the captive population to 400 wolves, from the current 200.

Red wolves, now endangered, were once plentiful in across the southeast, but human development and habitat loss have challenged the species.

Conservationists slammed FWS’ decision.

“This is a devastating blow to the world’s most endangered wolf,” said Jamie Rappaport Clark, president of Defenders of Wildlife.

“Never before has the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service so directly turned its back on an endangered species recovery effort,” she said. “The agency is essentially giving up on the red wolves in the wild today, with vague promises of reintroduction efforts elsewhere, sometime in the future.”

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, accused FWS of giving into the same invalid fears that devastated the red wolf population in the first place.

“The service is making a profoundly disappointing decision to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory,” he said.

“Prejudices and irrational fears led to the initial extirpation of the red wolf, and I’m concerned that those same prejudices and fears led to today’s announcement. This sets a terrible precedent for management of similar species, including the Mexican gray wolf in my home state of Arizona.”