$2 Million Offered for Wildlife Crossings to Protect Endangered Red Wolves (2024)

$2 Million Offered for Wildlife Crossings to Protect Endangered Red Wolves

Donor Pledges to Match Funding For Wolf Passages in North Carolina

RALEIGH, N.C.— An anonymous donor has pledged a $2 million match to fund wildlife crossings across a North Carolina highway that’s especially deadly to critically endangered red wolves. The Center for Biological Diversity, Wildlands Network and coalition partners aim to raise $2 million in matching funds by August 1.

Vehicle strikes are the second-leading cause of mortality for red wolves.

“I’m grateful for this exciting and unprecedented opportunity to save red wolves from extinction and protect human lives,” said Will Harlan, southeast director at the Center. “Wildlife crossings along one of North Carolina’s most dangerous highways are crucial to protecting the world’s most endangered wolf.”

The $2 million matching challenge is targeted specifically for wildlife crossings along Highway 64 in red wolf refuges in eastern North Carolina. If an additional $2 million can be raised by the Center and allies, the funds can leverage an additional $16 million in federal funds — for a total of $20 million to build wildlife crossings in the red wolf refuges.

Donations to the matching fund can be made at SaveRedWolves.org or by contacting Gretchen Mais, deputy development director for Center, at gmais@biologicaldiversity.org or (520) 345-5733.

Fewer than 25 red wolves remain in the wild and four have been killed by vehicle strikes in the past year.

All four were killed along or near Highway 64, which passes through the heart of Alligator River and Pocosin Lakes national wildlife refuges — the only places on the planet where wild red wolves remain.

Vehicle traffic continues to increase along the highway, one of the main roads to North Carolina’s Outer Banks, a popular coastal tourist destination. Meanwhile, red wolf populations have plummeted by 81% in the past decade.

Wildlife crossings have already been studied and prioritized for Highway 64. Research from the North Carolina Department of Transportation and North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission has identified key locations along Highway 64 where wildlife crossings would be most beneficial to red wolves and dozens of other species, including black bears, bobcats and river otters.

Wildlife crossings along Highway 64 would also protect human lives. Wildlife collisions kill more than 200 people in the United States every year and cause $10 billion in damages. North Carolina is considered by insurance companies to be a high-risk state for wildlife collisions, and 7% of all vehicle crashes statewide involve animal strikes.

“Wildlife crossings in red wolf refuges are a win-win for human and wildlife safety,” said Harlan. “We hope donors and the public will step up in this critical moment to save human lives and give endangered red wolves a fighting chance at survival.”

A coalition of organizations led by the Center for Biological Diversity and Wildlands Network have created SaveRedWolves.org to raise funds for wildlife crossings and to share stories, photos and videos of red wolves.

“Wildlife road crossings combined with guide fencing are the scientifically proven way to greatly reduce the number of collisions that occur between vehicles and wild animals on our highways,” said Ron Sutherland, chief scientist at Wildlands Network. “This challenge grant gives us the opportunity to leverage public donations by an incredible 9:1 ratio, if NCDOT and partners are successful in winning a grant from the federal Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program.”

Background

Thousands of red wolves once roamed across most of eastern North America. By 1960 they were nearly extinct. Red wolves were saved by the Endangered Species Act, under which officials established a captive breeding program and reintroduced red wolves into the wild in eastern North Carolina.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Red Wolf Recovery Program successfully grew the wild population to more than 130 wolves. Then the program was halted in 2015, and the population crashed to as few as seven.

The Red Wolf Recovery Program resumed in 2021, but serious threats remain for the world's most endangered wolves, especially from vehicle strikes.

A beloved juvenile wolf name Muppet was killed in a vehicle collision in April along Highway 64. Muppet’s father was also killed by a vehicle strike six months earlier along the same stretch of highway. Two other red wolves have been killed by vehicles in the past year in the same area: an unnamed female pup identified as 2501F was killed by vehicle strike in December, and an adult female was hit in July.

All wild red wolves live in and around two wildlife refuges in eastern North Carolina near the Outer Banks. Learn more about the 25 remaining wild red wolves and support wildlife crossings for their refuges at saveredwolves.org.