Transferring Red Wolves

Reflection Riding has two new Red Wolves! Welcome, Artemis and Juniper (pictured left)! Artemis will be eight in April 2023 and was transferred to us from the Endangered Wolf Center (EWC) in Eureka, MO. Juniper will be seven in April 2023 and was transferred to us from Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium (PDZA) in Tacoma, WA. 

 Why do we transfer Red Wolves? In the simplest of terms, to maintain the genetic diversity for which we have worked diligently to maintain within this population. If we keep breeding the same Red Wolves to the same Red Wolves, we create genetic redundancy - our goal is to maintain as high genetic diversity as our founding population of 14 will allow - this means breeding the most unrelated Red Wolves. As our population experiences births and deaths, the mean kinship (average relatedness) of each Red Wolf changes. We constantly monitor these changes to be sure we are maintaining genetic diversity, which is critical when reestablishing an endangered species.

How do we transfer these Red Wolves? If driving is reasonable, we drive them; if it’s not, we fly them. We try to combine transfers.  This time with both of these Red Wolves, we were able to do so. There’s so much more to caring for Red Wolves than meets the eye. Let me expand your knowledge!

The Red Wolf SAFE (Saving Animals from Extinction), formerly known as Red Wolf SSP (Species Survival Plan) determines what Red Wolves need to transfer to other Red Wolf facilities based on companion and breeding needs. Our family of four, Apollo, Ruby and their two sons, needed to transfer to EWC and one of our females, Marley, needed to transfer to PDZA. Additionally, each of these facilities needed to transfer Red Wolves to us and a couple other facilities in the eastern United States.

Let the logistics begin! Stay with me because I want you to understand the intricacies of transfers. First, an application for transfer is requested from each state’s Department of Natural Resources - for us that’s Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency. We cannot make the transfer until that paperwork is approved and returned. Communication begins between facilities to determine when and how the transfer will take place. Then we have to catch all the Red Wolves, fully vet them and load them in crates. The family of four was caught, vetted and crated in an afternoon, then placed in one of our buildings overnight and monitored by staff in preparation for the morning transfer. Catching, vetting and crating Red Wolves takes a team of people, lots of skill, and patience. The four crates were loaded into our large van in the morning and we departed for Nashville to meet two other facilities to make a very large swap of eight Red Wolves from four different facilities. We unloaded our four into the Missouri van and loaded our one Red Wolf, Artemis, coming from Missouri into our van. We helped load the other Red Wolves in their respective rides and off we all went. That’s a large, but fairly easy transfer, particularly for us since it was a short drive. Thanks to the Nashville Zoo for allowing us to use an on site area to make this transfer. Moving this many Red Wolves requires skilled staff, crates and a large van. We had four crates to make this transfer happen, but we need to upgrade our crates to ones that are more durable for moving Red Wolves. As you can imagine, they are expensive, ranging from $500 - $1100 each. The crate Artemis arrived in is a perfect crate for transfers, but we are just borrowing it. TVA just gifted us a large Sprinter van from their fleet that will hold four crates comfortably. Without this van, the extra expense of a rental van would have been necessary.

Now to make the Washington state transfer. Driving is not a good option for this one so the Red Wolf SAFE made a request to Light Hawk, a conservation flying organization that “accelerates conservation success through the powerful perspective of flight. Light Hawk’s network of 300 volunteer pilots donate time, expertise, aircraft, and fuel to support a project making flight support free of direct cost to our partners.” Light Hawk has been a truly mission-critical component to Red Wolf recovery, having flown many Red Wolves for the program. Thankfully, they were able to assist with this cross country transfer that involved not only Reflection Riding’s Red Wolves, but several more. Marley had already been vetted so all we had to do was catch her and load her in the borrowed crate Artemis arrived in. That was completed in an afternoon. She spent the night crated in one of our buildings with staff monitoring her. The next morning, she was loaded into our smaller van and driven to Wilson Air at the Chattanooga airport where we met our Light Hawk pilots and their jet. Light Hawk requests handlers to accompany all Red Wolf transfers so Taylor Berry, Reflection Riding’s Director of Avian Conservation and lead on all Red Wolf catches, rode on the flights to monitor Red Wolves and make this transfer happen. After several refueling stops, everyone arrived safely in Tacoma that evening. Marley was taken to her new enclosure at PDZA’s off-site Red Wolf area.  The team got some well deserved and needed rest. PDZA had their three Red Wolves ready for the next morning’s transfer. The Red Wolf transferring to us, Juniper, was placed in the borrowed crate Marley arrived in. In the morning, everyone met at the airport, loaded the Red Wolves into the jet and began the first leg of this cross country transfer. After refueling stops, the first Red Wolf was delivered to Miller Park Zoo staff at the Bloomington, IL airport. During the flight to Bloomington, the weather in Chattanooga presented a problem for the last leg of the flight, which was being flown by a different pilot and aircraft. The original flight plan was Tacoma to Bloomington to Syracuse to Chattanooga. The ceiling was too low for landing in Chattanooga for the aircraft scheduled to make the Syracuse to Chattanooga leg so we began to look for an alternate airport with better weather. That meant a 6 hour total drive to Kentucky to meet Taylor and Juniper and they wouldn’t be arriving until very late that night. When the current pilots found out the weather issues and necessary changes in flight patterns because of the Chattanooga weather, they very graciously agreed to change the flight schedule so we could get our Red Wolf on the ground as quickly as possible. The last leg’s pilot was notified of the changes and after the Bloomington stop, the current pilots flew straight to Chattanooga so we could get our Red Wolf home and out of the crate. That left one Red Wolf still to be delivered to Syracuse. After we loaded Juniper into the small van, Taylor stayed on the flight to accompany the last Red Wolf to Syracuse. We drove Juniper back to Reflection Riding and unloaded her from the borrowed crate. After the last Red Wolf was safely delivered to Rosamond Gifford Zoo staff at the Syracuse airport, the very generous and accommodating pilots who made this transfer of three Red Wolves across the country said their goodbyes and made their way home. Taylor crashed that evening in Syracuse and made his way home to Chattanooga on a commercial flight the next day. We made sure Taylor’s car was at the airport so he had a way home. We also shipped back the borrowed crate that made all these flights as it’s headed out for more transfers next week.

This transfer required weeks of emails, planning and scheduling in addition to almost constant communication during the flights on the day they occurred.

Artemis is enjoying her new habitat and awaiting a mate or companion that will arrive at a later date. Juniper is paired with Colbert, one of our existing males. Colbert’s genetics are under-represented in the current Red Wolf population and we need him to produce offspring to help maintain genetic diversity. We are guardedly optimistic for a litter from this pair. 

Behind the scenes in the Red Wolf SAFE is fascinating, exciting, sometimes daunting, and most of all hopeful. Without the generosity of Reflection Riding supporters, Light Hawk and their generous team of volunteer pilots, the transferring Red Wolf institutions and the Red Wolf SAFE team, these transfers may not have happened. If transfers don’t happen, it can create a domino effect among institutions - if one space is not vacated, then there isn’t room for the next red wolf to come in. This means less animals breeding, less litters produced and less growth of the population. With only ~260 red wolves in the world, these transfers make a tremendous impact. The work we do everyday in our neck of the woods truly makes a difference! Come visit our 5 Red Wolves on Fridays at 1:30. Howl, yes!

Photo Credit: Jessica Suarez