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Red Wolf (Canis rufus) Recovery: A Review with Suggestions for Future Research

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Once widespread in the Eastern United States, early 20th century predator-control programs reduced red wolves to a remnant population by the 1970s. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, through the Red Wolf Recovery Program, restored red wolves to northeastern North Carolina in 1987. A...

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Autores principales: Hinton, Joseph W., Chamberlain, Michael J., Rabon, David R.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4494459/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26479530
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani3030722
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author Hinton, Joseph W.
Chamberlain, Michael J.
Rabon, David R.
author_facet Hinton, Joseph W.
Chamberlain, Michael J.
Rabon, David R.
author_sort Hinton, Joseph W.
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: Once widespread in the Eastern United States, early 20th century predator-control programs reduced red wolves to a remnant population by the 1970s. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, through the Red Wolf Recovery Program, restored red wolves to northeastern North Carolina in 1987. After 25 years of restoration efforts, issues of hybridization with coyotes, inbreeding, and human-caused mortality continue to hamper red wolf recovery. To understand how these issues influence recovery efforts, we examine the history of red wolf restoration and its challenges. We then formulate areas of research that are of direct relevance to the restoration of red wolves. ABSTRACT: By the 1970s, government-supported eradication campaigns reduced red wolves to a remnant population of less than 100 individuals on the southern border of Texas and Louisiana. Restoration efforts in the region were deemed unpromising because of predator-control programs and hybridization with coyotes. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) removed the last remaining red wolves from the wild and placed them in a captive-breeding program. In 1980, the USFWS declared red wolves extinct in the wild. During 1987, the USFWS, through the Red Wolf Recovery Program, reintroduced red wolves into northeastern North Carolina. Although restoration efforts have established a population of approximately 70–80 red wolves in the wild, issues of hybridization with coyotes, inbreeding, and human-caused mortality continue to hamper red wolf recovery. We explore these three challenges and, within each challenge, we illustrate how research can be used to resolve problems associated with red wolf-coyote interactions, effects of inbreeding, and demographic responses to human-caused mortality. We hope this illustrates the utility of research to advance restoration of red wolves.
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spelling pubmed-44944592015-09-30 Red Wolf (Canis rufus) Recovery: A Review with Suggestions for Future Research Hinton, Joseph W. Chamberlain, Michael J. Rabon, David R. Animals (Basel) Review SIMPLE SUMMARY: Once widespread in the Eastern United States, early 20th century predator-control programs reduced red wolves to a remnant population by the 1970s. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, through the Red Wolf Recovery Program, restored red wolves to northeastern North Carolina in 1987. After 25 years of restoration efforts, issues of hybridization with coyotes, inbreeding, and human-caused mortality continue to hamper red wolf recovery. To understand how these issues influence recovery efforts, we examine the history of red wolf restoration and its challenges. We then formulate areas of research that are of direct relevance to the restoration of red wolves. ABSTRACT: By the 1970s, government-supported eradication campaigns reduced red wolves to a remnant population of less than 100 individuals on the southern border of Texas and Louisiana. Restoration efforts in the region were deemed unpromising because of predator-control programs and hybridization with coyotes. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) removed the last remaining red wolves from the wild and placed them in a captive-breeding program. In 1980, the USFWS declared red wolves extinct in the wild. During 1987, the USFWS, through the Red Wolf Recovery Program, reintroduced red wolves into northeastern North Carolina. Although restoration efforts have established a population of approximately 70–80 red wolves in the wild, issues of hybridization with coyotes, inbreeding, and human-caused mortality continue to hamper red wolf recovery. We explore these three challenges and, within each challenge, we illustrate how research can be used to resolve problems associated with red wolf-coyote interactions, effects of inbreeding, and demographic responses to human-caused mortality. We hope this illustrates the utility of research to advance restoration of red wolves. MDPI 2013-08-13 /pmc/articles/PMC4494459/ /pubmed/26479530 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani3030722 Text en © 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Hinton, Joseph W.
Chamberlain, Michael J.
Rabon, David R.
Red Wolf (Canis rufus) Recovery: A Review with Suggestions for Future Research
title Red Wolf (Canis rufus) Recovery: A Review with Suggestions for Future Research
title_full Red Wolf (Canis rufus) Recovery: A Review with Suggestions for Future Research
title_fullStr Red Wolf (Canis rufus) Recovery: A Review with Suggestions for Future Research
title_full_unstemmed Red Wolf (Canis rufus) Recovery: A Review with Suggestions for Future Research
title_short Red Wolf (Canis rufus) Recovery: A Review with Suggestions for Future Research
title_sort red wolf (canis rufus) recovery: a review with suggestions for future research
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4494459/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26479530
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani3030722
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