Another wolf releasal?

[CowboyLeroy]

I've seen rumors online about another proposed red wolf reintroduction in North Carolina, but it seems that there are too many people with too many opinions to get to any concrete information. I read in one article that out of the last group released seven were ultimately hit by cars (my guess would be scavenging roadkill). I am a firm believer that there is a place on earth for all of Gods creatures but it seems that FWS and the state of North Carolina may be banging their heads against the wall here. Are there any of yall close to the subject that could shed some light on the matter?

 

[s10]

It’s been an utter failure in the past, I cannot imagine there is much support for this. Must be a lot of $$$ involved if they’re doing this again.

 

[Revenuerman]

There was someone on the meat eater podcast discussing this sometime back. He said they would inter bread with coyotes and would soon disappear, unless they were placed in an area with very few coyotes.

 

[CowboyLeroy]

There was someone on the meat eater podcast discussing this sometime back. He said they would inter bread with coyotes and would soon disappear, unless they were placed in an area with very few coyotes.

I read in one article where it said they had a coyote sterilization program to help protect from that. I wish they'd share some of that program with me

 

[VAspeedgoat]

Everything I've read or been told, not saying it's the truth, is that red wolves are similar in size to coyotes but pack up and thus have fewer offspring. Thus the coyote will always out compete with similar numbers. However if the reds are established the pack will keep it's territory free of coyotes. They once tried releasing sterile reds in VA to see if they could have an effect on coyotes but it was a failure.

 

[RobertD]

There was someone on the meat eater podcast discussing this sometime back. He said they would inter bread with coyotes and would soon disappear, unless they were placed in an area with very few coyotes.

Probably Dan Flores? In his book Coyote America he makes that argument and even explains why a red wolf would breed with a coyote as opposed to a gray wolf, which will often kill a coyote on sight. I think he even argues that black coyotes are an expression of red wolf DNA in coyote populations - that also being the reason black coyotes mostly only pop up in Southern states.

 

[BrentD]

Probably Dan Flores? In his book Coyote America he makes that argument and even explains why a red wolf would breed with a coyote as opposed to a gray wolf, which will often kill a coyote on sight. I think he even argues that black coyotes are an expression of red wolf DNA in coyote populations - that also being the reason black coyotes mostly only pop up in Southern states.

Dan's not the best biologist. Not by a long shot.

 

[RobertD]

Dan's not the best biologist. Not by a long shot.

No, well he's not even a biologist at all really. His argument is also a lot more nuanced and cites some real data though - much better than my Cliffnotes version does.

 

[rwc101]

I think coyotes have killed any chance of them making a comeback on the mainland.

 

[Bluffgruff]

The phylogeny of red wolves is fascinating

A genome-wide perspective on the evolutionary history of enigmatic wolf-like canids - PMC

High-throughput genotyping technologies developed for model species can potentially increase the resolution of demographic history and ancestry in wild relatives. We use a SNP genotyping microarray developed for the domestic dog to assay variation ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[RobertD]

The phylogeny of red wolves is fascinating

A genome-wide perspective on the evolutionary history of enigmatic wolf-like canids - PMC

High-throughput genotyping technologies developed for model species can potentially increase the resolution of demographic history and ancestry in wild relatives. We use a SNP genotyping microarray developed for the domestic dog to assay variation ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

This is the study Flores cites in the text I referenced in my earlier post

 

[Mallardsx2]

Cool. I bet you they dont survive long if they run over to Georgia. lol