The Fight to Save the Red Wolf

If you are driving down NC-98, the Red Wolf Visitor Center is impossible to miss. Even though it is a small, windowless, rectangular building, the beautiful mural of an adult Red Wolf and its two pups painted on the front makes it clear to any visitor that this center has put a lot of effort into informing the public about these overlooked animals.

The two wolf species that exist are the gray wolf and the previously mentioned Red Wolf. Gray wolves can be found all across the northwest United States, but the population of Red Wolves in the wild is much more limited. Red Wolves were once found throughout the southeast United States, but as a result of their habitat loss and being hunted by humans, they were pushed to the brink of extinction by 1970. There are currently less than 20 Red Wolves that live in the wild, and they all live in Columbia, North Carolina.

The Red Wolf Center plays an important role in the protection of these animals. Created in 2007, the Red Wolf Center is made up of two parts. The first is specifically meant for biologists to safely check on wolves in need of medical treatment, while the other includes exhibits that are meant to provide visitors with more information about the Red Wolf.

In 2012, multiple fence enclosures were added behind the Red Wolf Center, and in 2022, two Red Wolves were sent from the Durham Life and Science Museum to Columbia and were introduced to one of these enclosures.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, keeping Red Wolves in captivity is important because it allows the wolves to safely grow and breed, and it also gives scientists the chance to release the Red Wolves back into the wild. The wolves will be released wearing bright-orange collars that are meant to help people tell the difference between the Red Wolf and the similar-looking coyote. The Red Wolf is important to the wild for many reasons, but especially due to the fact that they play a strong role in keeping the deer in the area from growing to overpopulation.

Enclosures also provide the public with the chance to view the captive Red Wolves. The Red Wolf Center even has multiple webcams installed in one of its enclosures to allow people to view the wolves online. According to the North Carolina Wildlife Federation, these webcams allow members of the public and scientists to “observe the wolves from a distance to continue learning about their behavior and needs.” Anyone who is interested in viewing the camera feed can go to the homepage of the North Carolina Wildlife Federation and scroll down until they find the link to the Red Wolf webcams.

Educators at the Red Wolf Center hope that as the East Coast becomes more informed about the struggles of the Red Wolf, more people will join the fight to save the Red Wolf. By bringing attention to the positive role that the Red Wolf plays in its environments, there is the hope that the public will begin to see endangered animals in a more cautious, yet caring approach.

---Caden Halberg