Endangered red wolves need space to stay wild. But there's another predator in the way: humans

by ALLEN G. BREED AP National Writer

Mon, September 4th 2023, 12:33 PM UTC

A red wolf crosses a road on the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, Thursday, March 23, 2023, near Manns Harbor, N.C. Over the course of 25 years, the red wolf went from being declared extinct in the wild to becoming hailed as an Endangered Species Act success story. But the only wolf species unique to the United States is once again at the brink. The last wild populations of Canis rufus are clinging to life on two federal refuges in eastern North Carolina. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Ron Sutherland, a biologist with the Wildlands Network, looks at a map while out installing wildlife cameras on the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Wednesday, March 22, 2023, near Columbia, N.C. "The red wolf program was a tremendous conservation success," says Sutherland. "It was the first time that a large carnivore had been returned to the wild after being driven extinct, anywhere in the world." (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Ron Sutherland, a biologist with the Wildlands Network, looks at a map while out installing wildlife cameras along a fire break on the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Wednesday, March 22, 2023, near Columbia, N.C. "The animals the red wolves eat, like rabbits and rats and deer and things and species like that, they like this kind of habitat," says Sutherland. "Our job is to document whether this fire break is ... creating more local abundance of these different wildlife species." (AP Photo/David Goldman)

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A red wolf crosses a road on the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, Thursday, March 23, 2023, near Manns Harbor, N.C. Over the course of 25 years, the red wolf went from being declared extinct in the wild to becoming hailed as an Endangered Species Act success story. But the only wolf species unique to the United States is once again at the brink. The last wild populations of Canis rufus are clinging to life on two federal refuges in eastern North Carolina. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

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