Red Wolves in the Eye of the Storm

As I write this, Hurricane Florence begins the final stretch of its slow approach to the American mainland.  Whenever a natural disaster of this magnitude arrives, I naturally think of the zoos and aquariums in harms way, with special thoughts for the safety of the staff and animals.  Of course, not all animals are under human care when these disasters occur - many are in the wild.  And few are more vulnerable right now than the last wild red wolves, huddled on the fringes of eastern North Carolina, with the hurricane approaching.

In her Secret World of Red Wolves, T. Delene Beeland gave me food for thought when she called to mind a threat to America's rarest canines that I had previously never considered - climate change.  With all of the wild red wolves on earth living in a single coastal habitat, it wouldn't take much of a change in sea level - or a killer hurricane - to wipe them out.  It looks like the Red Wolf Coalition has had similar thoughts.  Below is their statement on Hurricane Florence:

The Red Wolf Coalition thanks everyone for the outpouring of concern about the red wolves and us!  This storm poses the threat of an unprecedented storm surge, not only from the Atlantic Ocean but from the water in northeastern North Carolina's inland sounds.  A look at the map will show you what we mean.  Some important updates as of Wednesday morning, September 12th:

1.  The captive red wolves at Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in Dare County (close to the coast) and the two wolves at the Red Wolf Education Center at Pocosin Lake NWR near our office in Columbia (40 miles west of the Outer Banks beaches) have been transported to the NC Zoo in Asheboro, NC in the middle of the state.

2. The known wild red wolf population (fewer than 25) lives on the Alligator River NWR in Dare County on the Albemarle Peninsula. This area is surrounded by water on 3 sides. As we said in a couple of recent posts, wolves hunker down and ride out these storms. They are great swimmers and resilient survivors. However, this storm has us worried because of the potential storm surge.

3. The tragic irony is that Hurricane Florence is due to wreak its havoc on the very day that red wolves were reintroduced to the wild at Alligator River NWR - September 14, 1987. We ask that you commemorate this anniversary by keeping the wild reds in your thoughts. We in "Red Wolf Country" hope we will be able to celebrate yet another milestone in the saga of red wolf survival in the face of impossible odds.