Red wolves in North Carolina cannot be taken from the wild unless they pose an imminent threat to people or property and not just because someone doesn’t want a wolf nearby. This ruling by federal court today was in response to a suit brought by conservation groups against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services. The court told USFWS to stop capturing and killing—and authorizing private landowners to capture and kill—members of the rapidly dwindling population of wild red wolves on private land in the state.
Earlier this month, the USFWS announced that red wolf restoration was possible but with caveats. I wrote about this in Red wolves can repopulation North Carolina! USFWS just announced their plan. Although this plan accurately was considered seriously flawed by conservation groups, my view was that announcing restoring wild red wolf populations as scientifically possible was an important step towards ensuring their protection in the wild and provided a basis for arguing against the USFWS’s caveats. This plan allowed for protecting the previously introduced red wolf populations on two pieces of federal land, but called for removing into captivity most members of the wolf populations in a five county area of northeastern North Carolina.
On September 14 immediately after the initial announcement, Defenders of Wildlife, Animal Welfare Institute, Red Wolf Coalition, and Southern Environmental Law Center asked for a preliminary injunction to stop the agency from harming these native wolves. Today, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina issued a preliminary injunction, reported the conservation groups.
“This is a great day for red wolves and for anyone who loves nature in eastern North Carolina,” said Sierra Weaver, senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center. “The court was clear that it’s the Fish and Wildlife Service’s job to conserve this endangered species, not drive it to extinction. The agency cannot simply abandon that responsibility.” [...]
“We are pleased the court recognized that allowing the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to issue lethal and non-lethal permits for the removal of red wolves from the wild, was a pathway to extinction, not recovery,” said Kim Wheeler, executive director, Red Wolf Coalition.
The press release also notes that a majority of people polled in North Carolina favor the effort to restore native red wolf wild populations.
… according to a new poll conducted by Tulchin Research ... 73 percent of North Carolinians said they support red wolf recovery. The survey also found that over 80 percent of registered voters throughout North Carolina believe the USFWS should make every effort to help the endangered red wolf population recover and prevent its extinction.
This injunction doesn’t mean the problems are over and red wolves will be free to colonize private lands without restrictions. It doesn’t mean the end of legal battles for and against wild populations of these animals. But it protects the wolves right now. This is one more step forward in ensuring another level of validation about the importance of these predators to ecosystem health and their right to exist wild. As I noted in my previous article:
In the 29 years since reintroduction began only a dozen cases of predation have been submitted to USFWS for compensation to pay for lost livestock. Rather, the wolves themselves have experienced predation by human hunters, and further interbred with coyotes. Healthy red wolf populations benefit ecosystems by reducing crop-damaging wildlife such as raccoons, deer and nutria (large South American rodents introduced by fur traders). Deer damage to crops greatly exceeds any wolf problems.