Celebration of the American Red Wolf
It’s always a good time to celebrate endangered species and this year, May 19 is Endangered Species Day. At Reflection Riding, that means honoring the most endangered canid in the world, the American Red Wolf.
Photo by Dakota Casteel
Reflection Riding has been a champion for the American Red Wolf (ARW) since 1996 as a member of the ARW Species Survival Plan, now known as the ARW SAFE. There are many things to celebrate including the birth of 14 pups within the ARW recovery area in northeastern North Carolina, the only place where this species roams wild. These pups will push the total population over 30. While these numbers seem low, there were only 10 just a year ago. With a concerted effort from the ARW SAFE and the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the population is increasing. Creative and strategic management tactics from USFWS biologists lead the way to increasing the population in addition to the work all the ARW SAFE facilities do. It’s tough out there in the wild, paws crossed for these pups’ success.
In another effort to bolster the wild population, adult ARWs have been released into the wild over the last few years. These ARWs are placed in acclimation pens located in key areas to facilitate their pairing with a wild ARW when released. This season, pairs of mating adults were placed in acclimation pens resulting in 8 pups. These animals will soon have the opportunity to disperse from these pens, on their own time frame, to be wild ARWs. With the whelping season complete, we have some more encouraging numbers to report within the captive population, there were 50+ pups born this season.
So how does all this captive breeding happen? It’s a planned event with much thought and science involved. Each July at the ARW Summit meeting, we determine which animals are going to breed. Maintaining genetic diversity within an endangered species population is critical. That means maintaining hyper-vigilance over the breeding coefficient and selecting ARWs to breed that are the least genetically related. Luckily, the program has a geneticist to direct us and a software program that tracks each ARW’s pedigree - a road map of who’s closely related and who’s less related. ARWs only breed one time per year, adding another variable to the equation.
We must determine how many litters need to be produced to maintain or grow the population (whichever is deemed necessary for that breeding season) and refer to the mean kinship list (a measure of the genetic importance of an animal). We then begin the process of matchmaking. In some cases when a genetically valuable red wolf has not bred, artificial insemination can be an option. Reflection Riding is fortunate enough to have participated in this research several times. Males’ sperm is collected and cryopreserved for future use. The research team that works on this project consists of our veterinarian, Dr. Chris Keller, his team from Mountain Hospital for Animals and researchers from the Smithsonian Conservation and Biology Institute. Luckily, ARWs breed fairly well in the wild and in captivity once they have found the right mate and are of breeding age. Reflection Riding has been fortunate enough to have many successful breeding pairs through the years. One such pair was transferred recently to Endangered Wolf Center for a change in scenery after living with us for many years. The female of this pair was born at Reflection Riding and we just received news they produced another litter. Another female we transferred to Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium also produced a litter. As a very involved cooperator in the ARW SAFE, it’s our duty and pleasure to support this program and this magnificent and critically important species.
