Red wolves need your help. Will you take action?
The Fish and Wildlife service is declaring open season on the last 35 wild red wolves. Please take action to save them.
The Threat to Red Wolves
Until now, hunting and killing of these rare animals has been strictly forbidden. But the Fish and Wildlife Service just announced a new plan that would shrink the wolves’ protected habitat to only one refuge, leaving red wolves almost nowhere to hide.1
Even with protection, wild red wolf numbers have dwindled. Over 80 red wolves were shot and killed illegally between 1988 and 2013, and today only a few dozen remain.2
Without legal protection, even more wolves will certainly end up being hunted — and there are precious few left to lose. The reduced protected area is only capable of supporting 15 wolves, and if those cross the refuge’s border, even they would be in danger.3
How You Can Help
The red wolf was already declared extinct in the wild once, in 1980. Today’s wild red wolves represent a stunningly rare second chance for this unique and beautiful species, and they’ve beaten the odds thanks to the protection they’ve received.4
The Fish and Wildlife Service has the power to keep protecting these irreplaceable animals and save them from extinction in the wild again, but only if they say no to this catastrophic management plan. We need to tell them that the red wolf’s natural habitat should remain a safe place for wolves to live and thrive.
1. Bo Petersen, “Fish and Wildlife to allow open hunting of endangered wild red wolves in Southeast,” The Post and Courier, June 27th, 2018.
2. Jonathan Drew, “Government: Wild red wolf population could soon be wiped out,” The Denver Post, April 24th, 2018.
3. Darryl Fears, “Interior Department plans to let people kill endangered red wolves,” The Washington Post, June 27th, 2018.
4. Bo Petersen, “Fish and Wildlife to allow open hunting of endangered wild red wolves in Southeast,” The Post and Courier, June 27th, 2018.