CREDIT: U .S. F ISH 8c W 1 L.DUI FE SE R V IC E 



RED WOLF 



Canis rufus Audubon and Bachman 



KINGDOM Animalia 



CLASS Mammalia 



ORDER Camivora 



FAMILY Canidae 



OTHER COMMON NAMES black wolf 



DATE 



Entered into SWIS to be determined 



Updates. 20 December 1977, 14 September 1978, 



25 May 1979. 



LEGAL STATUS 



Federal: Endangered (35 FR 16047, 3 October 

 1970). 



States: Endangered: Delaware, Missouri, Mis- 



sissippi, T-exas. 



REASONS FOR CURRENT STATUS 



Local predator control programs as well as 

 Federal, State, and local bounty hunters have de- 

 cimated the red wolf population. By the 1920's, 

 wolves were virtually extirpated east of the Missis- 

 sippi River, and in Kansas, Oklahoma, and most 

 of Texas (Nowak 1972). Extermination was ac- 

 complished by den hunting, steel trapping, poison 

 baiting, and shooting. 



Predator control has had a much greater 

 impact on wolf populations than on the coyote 

 (Canis latrans) populations because bounties were 

 higher for wolves and people feared and hated 

 wolves much more than coyotes. The result was 

 that a few widely separated wolves remained 

 among many coyotes. The few remaining wolves 

 began to mate with coyotes and a hybrid swarm 

 resulted which is today being replaced by pure 

 coyotes (C. Carley personal communication). At 

 present, there are probably no remaining popula- 



