Red Wolf

In this century, many species have become extinct. One of the last major species to disappear in the wild in North America is the red wolf. The last official sighting was 1980. They used to occur in large areas of the central United States, but like the timber wolf, they could not survive competition with man. Luckily, a good breeding stock survived in captivity. There is some exciting news. A release program is about to begin so that we may have this interesting and attractive predator roaming free again. The red wolf is smaller and has larger ears than the timber wolf, and of course, it has the rich reddish coat with white cheeks and throat.

I have shown this one in the morning light, moving through the rank lowland grass and willow thicket. This was its typical habitat when last seen in the wild.