RedWolf_BitsandPieces_VonHoldtBridgett_PrincetonNJ_29February2024_Reel4193.mp3

Bridgett vonHoldt [00:00:00] Red wolves were declining rapidly and were declared extinct in the wild by 1980, which technically means you could never go to the landscape and see a wild red wolf.

Bridgett vonHoldt [00:00:17] The last bit of them, 14 of them, had been brought into captivity to establish their captive breeding program, to help save the species.

Bridgett vonHoldt [00:00:30] There's lots of stories and anecdotes and documents that tell me that this was a very complicated time, from 1970 to 1980, when the government was trying to save the red wolf by grabbing the last ones from the wild, essentially causing the red wolf to be extinct in the wild.

Bridgett vonHoldt [00:00:53] But also, not really keeping every red wolf that they caught. They caught several. I think the number is on the order of 40 of them. I mean, they caught several hundred canids in an attempt to find the last wild red wolves.

Bridgett vonHoldt [00:01:11] And they were evaluated individually for several features and characteristics. And those that showed the most "red wolfy" set of traits were the ones deemed, "This is a red wolf. Let's figure out if it, over the next generation or two, produce puppies that also look red wolf-like."

Bridgett vonHoldt [00:01:33] So, that's how they narrowed it down from those 40 animals, give or take, to the 14 that ended up being declared the founders of the red wolf program, the captive breeding program.

Bridgett vonHoldt [00:01:44] There are stories and documents that indicate some animals that were deemed a "red wolf" were released back again into the Louisiana or Texas landscape (this is the geographic area where the last red wolves were seen)...

Bridgett vonHoldt [00:02:06] So, this means that red wolf DNA actually probably persisted in animals after the government went and captured what they needed, declared, federally declared, the animal, the species, extinct in the wild in 1980.

Bridgett vonHoldt [00:02:26] And yet, some years later, in 1990, there was another document that declared, "Yes, we know that there are some red wolves. They're probably red wolves. Without handling them, you know, with our own two hands, the government said, 'Yep, it looks like you probably have red wolves on your private property'."

Bridgett vonHoldt [00:02:48] But, I think, for lack of better words, the resources weren't there to go out and do a full study or to capture them.

Bridgett vonHoldt [00:02:58] So, those animals, which were suspected to be red wolves, were acknowledged and left to be on their own on this private land.

Bridgett vonHoldt [00:03:11] So, that tells me that there are probably lots of bits of DNA of red wolf that's floating out on the landscape that does not seem to be represented in the captive breeding population of red wolf.