Groups of conservationists announced their intent to seek legal action against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday, Sept 1, due to the agency's management of red wolves.
According to the groups, the federal department failed to execute their 30 year-old Red Wolf Recovery Program, which aims to take care the animals and prepare them as they return to the wild.
Conservation groups based in North Carolina namely Red Wolf Coalition, the Animal Welfare Institute and the Defenders of Wildlife notified the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today that they intend to sue the federal agency over its management of the Red Wolf Recovery Program. In June 2015, the agency allowed the legal killing of a red wolf mother inside a privately-owned property, which according to conservationist parties and the Southern Environmental Law (SELC), is an unlawful action. The decision is actually the exact opposite of supervising the animals for recovery, says Jason Rylander, the senior attorney of the Defenders for Wildlife.
"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has violated the law and its responsibility to protect the world's only wild population of red wolves which now numbers only 50-75 animals," says Sierra Weaver, senior attorney of the SELC. The agency must rededicate itself to guaranteeing that the rarest wolf species in the U.S. survive and its recovery status is restored. The conservationists are giving the federal agency 60 days to respond to the lawsuit or solve the problems.
In a public dialogue held in 2014, property owners complained that the released red wolves have been loitering in their lands. The swift growth of the animal's' population, as well as the breeding with coyotes have also created a complication with regards to the claim that the species are already extinct.
During the early part of the summer, the federal agency has declared the suspension of some parts of the Red Wolf Recovery Program and that it has to undergo some reviews. The said investigations are expected to be complete during the late 2015.
The red wolves run around Albemarle Peninsula in North Carolina. The population of the animals has decreased from about 100 in 2014 to around 50-75 in the summer of 2015. Deaths due to gunshots have been reported with 23 out of 58 mortality cases recorded since 2012. The Wildlife Resources Commission of North Carolina has appealed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to stop the recovery program in the state since 1987.
Photo: Christine Majul | Flickr
