By Alison Davis 



SANDY RIDGE — The male 

 eyes the humans warily as they 

 approach the large pen, deep in the 

 forested swamps of eastern Dare 

 County. 



When they open the gate, he 

 moves quickly away — as far away 

 as the chain-link fence will let him. 



Reada Evans, a volunteer at the 

 Alligator River National Wildlife Ref- 

 uge, and Jennifer Dagen, a U.S. Fish 

 and Wildlife Service biologist, enter 

 the pen. The male begins to circle like 

 an expectant, yet distrustful father. 



Evans walks to the pen's center 

 and kicks what looks like a wooden 

 doghouse. A female skitters out and 

 joins the male in his nervous run 

 along the fence. 



Evans lifts the roof off the box and 

 looks inside. There, huddled together 

 despite the warming temperatures, 

 are six puppies. Red wolf puppies. 



Nearly six years have passed 

 since the first two red wolves, captive 

 born and raised, were released here 

 in a groundbreaking experiment to 

 give the canid a chance at escaping 

 extinction. 



During that time, no one has 

 huffed and puffed and blown the 

 house down. Little Red Riding Hood 

 hasn't disappeared. 



In fact, people haven't seen the 

 wolves very often. And that's good, 

 say Fish and Wildlife Service biolo- 

 gists. It's one more sign that the shy, 

 nocturnal red wolf is remaining wild. 



"It's been better than anybody 

 ever expected," says Dagen, a 

 biologist who works with the wolf 

 re-establishment program. "They're 



Michael Halminski 



8 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1993 



