I have been working on wolf preservation for ten years now. Thank you for spreading the word on this

In addition, users may visit www.wolf.org to help (and learn about) wolves (including red wolves).

Signed! Watching species after species of animal fall off the plane of existence is freaking heartbreaking man. ;O;

I signed...

V.

Signed! Thanks for spreading the word! :)

Have done

Signed and donation made.

Signed and shared on twitter, seems like they are getting close to the number they are aiming for, let's hope this petition helps!

I'll sign my name i gotta save my brothers and sisters out in the wild! I love wolfs like one day I'll head to Canada to see if I can get my spirt totem from a native American I hope mine is a wolf as i feel so strongly about them

And no one has the right to take a life from another....and most of all to wipe out a species : /

So sign me up!

The biggest hazard to human safety is other humans.

Signed.

I may be an Australian, but I've signed this petition. Don't want to see another species go extinct here.

I'm Australian girl myself <3 go us :P yeah I agree its the right thing to do

I thought they were protected under state and federal laws since the entire red wolf population since Dare County is a HUGE wildlife sanctuary concerning the beaches, estuaries and untouched forests. This is BULLSHIT. They don't even come out during the day and they're scared of humans so I doubt they cannot attack humans.

I'll spread the petition around on the NC fur groups and on FB

So many of our (NC's) red wolves have been "accidentally" shot and killed, and the "people" shooting them claim that they thought they were shooting coyotes. :(

Already signed

Signed :/
My local zoo (Pt Defiance Zoo and Aquarium) has red wolves and is part of the conservation/recovery program as well

they may do so due to inbreeding which will cause further decline. this is called triage, save what you can not what you feel like saving.

logically you need 1000 individuals to maintain a healthy genetic population, not possible with only a few individuals left. they can use the remaining population as genetic stock in other wolf populations but trying to save a species that does not have a viable genetic population is just selfish.

I don't consider it selfish, as nature itself has provided at least one strong case of an animal nearly dying off (not because of humans) and then living to tell the tale. Cheetahs were once abundant on different continents with several subspecies present. An extinction event roughly 12,000 years ago, probably the same one that killed off most of the "ice age" animals, dropped their numbers in the wild to nearly nothing. I have seen papers claim as few as seven individuals existed in the wild after the event. As this was the time before modern humans and their technologies existed, it's safe to say we weren't responsible for this die-off. However, cheetahs still continued to exist for those next 12,000 years and despite the pressure humans put on them now, they still exist in the wild. Some sources claim them to be almost 97% identical to all other cheetahs, a percentage only seen in lab rats inbred to almost 20 generations. So yes, they are strongly inbred, suffer from some mutations, and are almost genetically identical to such a point a single disease could wipe them all out, but yet they've continued to exist without our help for nearly 12,000 years. The story of the red wolf is very different in that we are directly responsible for their endangerment. But given the survival story of the cheetah and the will the public has to protect such a species as a wolf, particularly one that they blame themselves for harming, I find it hard to believe that saving what is left of them could be labeled as selfish. They will never have the genetic diversity they were intended to, they will never thrive like they once did, they will experience genetic issues and mutations, but all organisms have the desire to continue existing. If they were capable of human thought or communication, I'm sure they'd be disappointed to know that you think they no longer deserve a home or a right to reproduce and thrive simply because their future generations will be a genetic mess. Humans have gone far in screwing things up for wildlife, but in this situation, their intentions have been to help more than harm. Good intentions won't repair the species, but it will allow future generations to see an animal that we at least tried to save and allow them to learn from the story and make better choices. If we let the red wolves die off, you're basically telling them when something goes wrong to just let it go, there is no fixing it. That's not really setting the best example for future biologists.

consider if you will the massive genetic consequences of a small population inbreeding with it's self.

I already have and acknowledged it in my first comment. Cheetahs still exist despite 12,000 years of genetic inferiority and "consequences of a small population inbreeding." The wolves will never be the same as they would have been if they still existed in great numbers. There is no reason to abandon the effort in saving them even if the consequences include a chance of mutation. We'd be truly giving up on a species we're responsible for crippling and we'd be sending a negative message to future generations of biologists. There are worse fates than a risk of genetic abnormality, one of which being the complete loss of a species. Most organisms, humans included, would rather live a hindered life than cease to exist altogether.

There is a term I'd like to bring to mind to you, triage, the species has gotten to a point that now that it's time to move on, good stewardship is also to know when to pull back and redirect efforts into those species that are not so near the edge of the cliff. In time perhaps a hundred thousand years from now when we have learned our lesson some other new sub species will come a long like the red wolf, it will not be the red wolf but then again nothing is permanent, that is a fact of evolution, though we have played a major part in such decline. In this we are simply interjecting our desire of permanents into the biosphere. This does not help it only drags out a decline for our own vanity, a feel good for our own sake. We should be focusing our efforts to preserve the core species that subspecies derive from in the long run first and foremost.

I both agree and disagree with this comment, so I will not argue with it. I suppose the part that trips me up the most is "perhaps a hundred thousand years from now when we have learned." If humans continue to breed the way they do now, with no regard for health and genetics, our own species will be in decline. If not by quantity, then by quality of life. Hopefully we survive long enough to overcome such issues and find solutions to all of our problems, our health and that of our animal neighbors included.

There are many more in zoos, which could be used to collect 'genetic materials' from, to further the genetic stock if implanted in the wild females. They will then produce and raise pups from a male not within their wild group.

the problems is is that the populations in the wild have seen a drastic sudden drop with in the last decade to around 50-65 individuals, if we don't understand why that is happening how it is happening then reintroduction wont do much good.

They were considered to be extinct in the wild in 1980. Although a small population of around 43 were captured in Louisiana and Texas. They were taken into captivity to breed with captive red wolves to start the recovery program. The recovery program went well enough to start a reintroduction program. The population was estimated to be around 100 to start with, but disease and parasites took a considerable toll. (I'm guessing that was due to their natural immunity being degraded through captive environments. The reintroduced wolves are now being vaccinated against such things. That was likely a large factor in the drop.. Well, that and interbreeding with coyotes, which the FWS was trying to prevent.... It is uncertain, but if there is a chance, even if they do end up like cheetahs, i'd rather they get their fair chance at surviving as a wild species.

the decline of the red wolf to 60 individuals was both sudden and rapid.

SIGNED

Signed! *Prancing around wagging tail* ^^

It's incredible that people still fear wolves. They're so shy and avoid humans whenever possible. We have a similar problem in Germany, Wolves are slowly coming back and people just shit their pants that they may be attacked... Incredible. And they fear about their sheep. Sure wolves eat sheep, but there are easy things you can do to avoid that, have donkeys in your flock for example - no wolf would attack the sheep because the donkeys are too alert and strong.

Definitely signed.

Signed it :) <3

!!!

Signed to woofs

Signed, i can't stand this, i will make everything that i can to help, its heartbreaking seeing a specie going to an end.

Signed. So sad to see what these wolves are facing when they're so close to the brink. I hope they can be saved.