‘Shocking’ loss for endangered red wolves: 5 pups die after father was hit by a car

The news is tragic for people who care about North Carolina’s endangered red wolves, the world’s only known wild population.

Five wild pups that lost their father earlier this year have died in Eastern North Carolina, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has confirmed.

Their father, 2444M, was hit and killed by a vehicle in June on U.S. 64 near Buffalo City Road, more than a month after his mate had given birth to the five pups in April 2024.

“It’s shocking to see how a single vehicle collision has ripple effects across the critically endangered wild red wolf population,” Will Harlan, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.

There are now only 16 known red wolves in the wild, with the US Fish and Wildlife Service estimating there could be just a few more they haven’t detected. Another 290 red wolves live in captivity.

Conservation groups have identified traffic on U.S. 64 as a key threat to wild red wolves’ survival and support an effort to construct a wildlife crossing in the area. The highway to and from the Outer Banks bisects the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, a key habitat for the wolves, in Dare County.

Despite prominent signs warning drivers to look out for red wolves in the area, four have been hit and killed by cars since September 2023. All three wolves that were killed on U.S. 64 were males, with 2444M and a wolf that was killed last September known to be breeding males for their packs.

“U.S. 64 has kind of single handedly kept the wild red wolf population from expanding,” Ron Sutherland, the chief scientist for the Wildlands Network, said in an interview.

A fourth wolf, a young female, was hit and killed on U.S. 264 in December 2023.

What’s known about lost pups

Red wolves in the wild are exclusively found on the Albemarle Peninsula. There are family groups on the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in Dare and Hyde Counties and on the Pocosin River National Wildlife Refuge in Hyde, Tyrrell and Washington counties.

The pups that died were the first born to a wolf known as 2413F. She was likely unable to care for the pups without their father, says the Center for Biological Diversity release.

Their litter is one of two that was born in the wild this year. A different litter of eight pups has not been seen on monitoring with remote sensing or visually seen since late June, which has raised concerns about their survival.

“No pup mortalities have been documented, however, pups approaching 5 months old are typically moving throughout the family group’s home range with the adults and being seen on remote sensing cameras.,” the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says on its webpage dedicated to red wolves.

Efforts to fund wildlife crossing

The N.C. Department of Transportation has applied for a $25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program to help animals cross U.S. 64.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission also worked on the grant, while nonprofits worked to raise $6.25 million in matching funds for the project.

If fully funded, the project would address about 2.5 miles of U.S. 64 from just east of the East Lake community to just west of Robertson Landing Road.

DOT would line the road with fencing to prevent wildlife from reaching the highway, then it would it would raise that section of road and install a planned 13 crossings underneath.

Those would include 10 3.4-foot culverts for small creatures; two 7.6-foot pipes for mid-size mammals like deer and wolves; and a 10-foot pipe for large mammals like the black bears that live on the refuge.

DOT anticipates that construction would take less than a year.

“Wildlife crossings can protect people and save red wolves from extinction, but we need to build them before it’s too late,” Harlan, the Center for Biological Diversity scientist’s statement said.

The DOT application notes that based on comments made to FWS employees and on social media, some of the red wolf vehicle strikes may have been intentional.

Building a structure to allow red wolves to avoid the road “will likely be the only effective way at reducing strike mortalities,” the grant application states.

While the red wolf would be the stated reason for the crossing, supporters say it would also help other species that live in the refuge.

On Aug. 1, the Wildlands Network began to survey roadkill on 33 miles of U.S. 64 and U.S. 264 in Dare and Tyrrell counties. By August 23, they had found 1,029 dead creatures, including nearly 500 turtles, more than 300 snakes and more than 200 frogs. Surveyors had also found three coyotes, a bobcat and a bear.

“It’s been kind of jaw dropping... There’s just tons and tons of animals out there getting killed,” Sutherland said.

This story was produced with financial support from the Hartfield Foundation and Green South Foundation, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. If you would like to help support local journalism, please consider signing up for a digital subscription, which you can do here.