Environmentalists hoping to secure more stringent protections for North Carolina’s red wolves make their case Wednesday afternoon in a federal courtroom.
Few in number but high in profile, red wolves in the wild now are at the center of a renewed fight over their status under the Endangered Species Act as a “nonessential experimental” population. The oral arguments will illuminate sharply competing assessments of the red wolf and its potential path toward recovery.
“The world’s last wild population of red wolves is essential to the survival and recovery of this species, and that’s what we will prove in court on Wednesday,” Center for Biological Diversity senior attorney Perrin de Jong said in a statement, adding that “red wolves don’t have time to wait for the Fish and Wildlife Service to get its act together. They need stronger protections now.”
The environmental organization filed suit in 2023 to challenge the Fish and Wildlife Service’s rejection of a 2016 petition to reclassify the red wolf population as “essential.” The status change would restrict red wolf shootings by private landowners and compel designation of critical habitat.
