American Wolf Foundation, a national wolf conservation non-profit based in Kansas City, Missouri, is pleased to announce it has issued its first Red Wolf Enclosure Grants to help increase the captive population of critically endangered American red wolves (C. rufus) to two grant recipients: Henson Robinson Zoo in Springfield, Illinois and Ross Park Zoo in Binghamton, New York.
These $5,000 grants will be used for enhancements to existing red wolf enclosures at each zoo that will allow the facilities to transition from merely holding red wolves to captive breeding. Currently, Henson Robinson Zoo houses two males, brothers of the same litter, and Ross Park Zoo houses a non-breeding male and female pair. Limited funds are available for new enclosures through a joint effort by the USFWS and Conservation Centers for Species Survival (“C2S2”). Since the two zoos already had red wolf enclosures, they were ineligible for the C2S2 grants.
Red wolves were historically native throughout the Southeast as far north and west as central Missouri. Currently, only 10 red wolves are known to exist in the wild in northeastern North Carolina, with an additional approximately 240 red wolves in captivity in 43 facilities participating in the Red Wolf Species Survival Plan (“SSP”). In 2016, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (“USFWS”) determined that “[t]o secure the captive population, the Service and its partners must essentially double it to at least 400 wolves.” The SSP estimates doubling the population will require 50 new enclosures, but only 20 are accounted for.
In late 2019, American Wolf Foundation launched its Red Wolf Enclosure Campaign to raise money to supplement the USFWS grants and recruit additional facilities to join in the effort to save the world’s most endangered wolf.