Judge Sides With Conservationists Fighting To Protect Red Wolves In NC

"RALEIGH -- U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle has temporarily restricted the federal government’s ability to remove red wolves from private property in North Carolina in a ruling issued Thursday that conservationists are cheering.

In his order for a temporary injunction, Boyle said the government had failed to protect the wild red wolves that roam a five-county area in northeastern North Carolina. The order stops wildlife officials from removing red wolves from private property unless they can show the animals are threatening humans, pets or livestock. Boyle also wrote that from the record developed in court so far, the conservation groups appeared likely to be the victors in their challenge of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s proposed changes in managing the wolves.

'Following reintroduction, the wild red wolf population in the red wolf recovery area grew steadily, with a peak population of an estimated 130 red wolves in 2006 and as many as twenty breeding pairs in a given year,' Boyle wrote in the order. 'In November 2013, there were an estimated 100 red wolves in the wild with an estimated eight breeding pairs. ...In March 2016, defendants estimated there to be only 45-60 red wolves in the wild. Such rapid population decline has been described as a catastrophic indicator that the wild red wolf population is in extreme danger of extinction.'"

Anne Blythe reports for the Raleigh News & Observer September 29, 2016.