The North Carolina Zoo has welcomed three red wolf litters, marking a dozen new members of the world’s most endangered wolf species.
The wolves were born over a three-day period in late April and are part of the zoo’s red wolf breeding program, the zoo said in a statement.
“All pups and their mothers are healthy and doing well. This is the first time in the zoo’s breeding program that three litters have been born in one spring.”
Next month, the zoo plans to announce a public vote to name one of the litters.
With the addition of the new pups, the zoo’s breeding program now has 36 red wolves, making it the second-largest pack in the United States, after the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma, Washington.
“These births are important because many of our wolves, once mature, were transferred to other breeding packs to continue helping to bring this species back from near-extinction. Our hope is that more and more wolves will soon be able to return to the wild,” said Reid Wilson, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
Red wolves began to decline in the United States due to intensive predator control programs and habitat decline, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and were “decimated in the early 20th century.”
The Service began conservation and restoration efforts in the late 1960s.
So far, the agency estimates that there are about 25 wolves in the wild and 278 in captivity.
According to the zoo, all wild wolves are found in eastern North Carolina.
Source: CNN Brasil
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