Red Wolf Documentary

On November 3rd, I attended a documentary showing about the endangerment of the Red Wolf. Red wolves are not hybrids of coyotes and wolves, even though many people say they are. Red wolves are much larger than coyotes. It is also thought that red wolves share a common ancestor with wolves. Currently, there are no more than 40 red wolves living on earth today. If you compare red wolves to lion, tigers, and polar bears one could say that those species are flourishing. But that does not make the red wolves condition more important than lions, tigers, and polar bears – both cases are devastating.

At the moment, the very few red wolves that roam the earth are being protected in the Alligator River Wildlife Refugee in North Carolina. While the red wolves are receiving protection, the area isn’t ideal for the species. Red wolves, like regular wolves, require a lot of land to thrive.

Years ago, the protection for Red Wolves was almost terminated because private land owners were complaining about seeing red wolves on their property and that they were competing with the endangered species for deer. In order to do this, Fish and Wildlife was about to declare the Red Wolf extinct so that they can halt all works for protecting the red wolves. This is something that I found insane, how do you declare a species extinct when there are still 40 of them roaming around trying to survive? Luckily, Fish and Wildlife didn’t pull the plug and continued to provide protection for the endangered species.

The endangerment of the red wolves was incredibly sad to hear. At the end of the short movie, there was a speaker to talk about an organization that works to continue protecting the red wolves. The speaker really wants to get the attention of many people about the red wolves. Right now many people aren’t aware of what is happening to animals like the red wolves. I’m sure if more people were aware of what is going on, more people would care and want to take action.

10 thoughts on “Red Wolf Documentary

  1. That is insane! I wonder how many other species this is happening to? Are Red Wolves native to the United States, or are other countries aware of this issue and trying to protect them as well? Hopefully the red wolves continue to get the protection they deserve and flourish enough to get off of the endangered species list.

  2. I don’t think I have even heard of a red wolf! That sounds like a cool documentary. I don’t like that people didn’t want the protection of the Red Wolves to be terminated because of private land owners. It wasn’t their land to begin with, it was the animals. Good job!

  3. I thought this was really interesting, because I had never even heard of red wolves before. It’s very sad that their numbers are so extremely low, but I’m glad that there is somebody out there who is trying to spread the word about them. Hopefully more and more people will hear about them, and more efforts can be made to protecting and reestablishing the species.

  4. I never heard about the red wolf species before, however I’m glad people are protecting them from being extinct. It’s crazy how people would declare them extinct when there are still some around. I hope this organization can continue to protect the wolves and allow them to continue to thrive.

  5. I never even knew there was such thing as a red wolf. After reading your post I thought I would do some research on red wolves myself and found that they look just like regular wolves only they are much smaller than the gray wolf and hunt on smaller animals. And you are also right when you said that not many people know about the endangerment of red wolves. If more people knew about the endangerment of them like they do of polar bears, pandas, lions and tigers then maybe they would have a better chance for survival. As far as it goes for keeping them kept in a wildlife preserve in North Caroline, I think that is the best thing for them at this point. Even though they may need a lot of land to roam around on, however, in their case since there are only 40 of them remaining in total, I would say that keeping them contained in a wildlife preserve is the best thing for them. That way they are able to reproduce and we are able to monitor them to make sure that their species doesn’t go extinct.

  6. This documentary sounds really interesting and it makes me want to watch it. I like that more of these documentaries are coming out and bringing awareness. We hear about hundreds of species being extinct every day but it is hard for us to imagine it. When watching a documentary about one specific animal and how they are being affected it really brings things into perspective. This documentary about the red wolf makes us realize how valuable animals and nature are and how they are personally being driven to extinction. This is a great way of waking people up and making them face our reality. I hope more people start getting involved and helping us save the animals and our planet!

  7. This is fascinating I had no idea that there were no more than 40 of these animals living on earth today and that in itself it crazy! This is only 1 species that is on the verge of going extinct, so I wonder how many other species are at this point as well. It is so important to inform people about these endangered species because it is up to us to save them!

  8. Really sad. It is extremely important that we acknowledge the intrinsic value of individual species in order to prevent them from perishing. While we take up so much land and destroy the homes of so much wildlife, the responsibility to protect those that we’ve harmed is crucial, and is often ignored. I recommend watching the Netflix series, Last Chance to See, where comedian and thinker Stephen Fry visits some of the world’s most endangered species. It is really quite amazing, and at times inspiring.

  9. After reading your post, I’m caught up on the fact that Fish and Wildlife Services was actually attempting to declare the species extinct just to avoid confrontation. It’s important that we protect our biodiversity and not take the near extinction of a species lightly. I did not know about the red wolf endangerment, and am happy to hear that people are taking the time to inform and encourage others to be aware of the hardships these and many other species are facing with the growing population and environmental issues.

  10. It is shocking and highly disappointing that the Fish and Wildlife Service almost declared them extinct. This just goes to show that we must keep due diligence against government corruption, and not have the relaxed idea that government officials will always do what’s best, or even what it is that is their directive to do so.

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