How to save the red wolf from going extinct—for a second time

After decades of growth, the world’s last population of wild red wolves has plummeted. Can we get back on track and save this critically endangered species?

A male wolf named Apollo howls alongside his family at Reflection Riding Arboretum and Nature Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee. While he will likely never be released to the wild, the two male puppies he and his mate produced in 2021 may be candidates for release.

With a total population below 20 individuals, the world’s most endangered wolf lives only in a small area in and around the Alligator River and Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuges in eastern North Carolina.

Called “America’s wolf,” the red wolf (Canis rufus) is the only large predator whose historic range is found entirely within the United States, stretching from Texas to New England. But hunting gradually reduced its range, and it was declared extinct in the wild in 1980. In a ground-breaking successful experiment, eight captive wolves were released in 1987 into North Carolina, eventually growing into a population over 100. But poaching and management changes enacted by the Fish and Wildlife Service resulted in their numbers plummeting.

In the spring, conservationists

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