Richmond-based journalist Stephen Nash spoke to the Sierra Club York River Group in a virtual meeting on May 18, 2022 about the critically endangered red wolf. There have been proposals to reintroduce red wolves to Virginia, but the status of this effort is still far from clear.

In the 1970s, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service caught the last 17 known representatives of this critically endangered species.  In addition to keeping some in captivity, the service introduced some into the wild at the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina. The program worked very well… for a while.  Unfortunately, the effort was subsequently politicized, and many landowners learned to see wild red wolves as a threat (they are not).  As a result, many of the wild red wolves have been killed either out of fear or out of anger toward what is perceived as U.S. government overreach.

The politicization also affected the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which has not always responded in the best interest of the wild wolf population. However, under the present political administration, there appears to be an increased commitment to the wild wolf program.

The introduction of red wolves into the wild can have a beneficial effect, naturally reducing deer and rodent overpopulations, and bringing more balance to the ecosystem.  But private landowners (particularly those living near wildlife refuges or state/national parklands where the wolves may be reintroduced) need to be on board, willing to commit to allowing the wolves to roam free.

So it is not clear whether or not the red wolf can or will be introduced somewhere into the wild in Virginia.  A lot depends on the political climate. In Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, ranchers are legally killing wild wolves now that the federal government no longer protects them as threatened with extinction. This is undoing the 25 year effort to reestablish them in Yellowstone and the wilderness of north-central Idaho.  Only time will tell whether the endangered red wolf will ever be allowed to flourish in our state in the wild, or whether it will only continue to exist in captivity.