The U.S. government will settle a lawsuit with conservation groups and commit to releasing more endangered red wolves into the wilds of North Carolina, where nearly three dozen of the canine species are believed to still run free.
FILE - A female red wolf emerges from her den sheltering newborn pups at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, N.C., on May 13, 2019. On Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, the U.S. government agreed to settle a lawsuit with conservation groups and commit to releasing more endangered red wolves into the wilds of North Carolina.
“For 25 years, North Carolina was home to one of the most successful predator reintroductions in the world," Ramona McGee, a Southern Environmental Law Center attorney, said in a statement. “This settlement puts us on a path to restoring the red wolf to its rightful place as a celebrated success story.”
Wolf numbers were bolstered by releases of captive-born pups and sterilization of coyotes that competed for space. But those approaches were halted in 2015 amid pressure from conservative politicians and landowners who deemed wolves a nuisance. By the time conservation groups filed their 2020 lawsuit, they said there could be as few as seven red wolves living in the wild. The groups argued that federal wildlife officials violated the Endangered Species Act through actions that included halting the release of captive-bred wolves in 2015.
According to the settlement agreement, the Fish and Wildlife Service will develop and publish red wolf release plans for a period of eight years. The plans will include “metrics that can be used to measure performance.”
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