Tacoma Zoo has a lot to howl about
Red wolves aren’t native to the South Sound. They originally roamed the East Coast. But it’s Tacoma’s Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium that has led the effort to save the species from extinction.
The species was declared extinct in the wild in 1980, but today there are more than 300 of them, about a third of which have been bred by Point Defiance at its breeding facility near Graham.
The zoo received the North America Conservation Award from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums last month for its 30-year-effort to restore the species. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the first red wolf litter born as part of the program and the 20th anniversary of the first red wolves reintroduced into the wild.
About 40 facilities participate in the breeding program, and Point Defiance coordinates their efforts.
During National Wolf Awareness Week, the zoo is hosting events Saturday and Tuesday to celebrate red wolves and the zoo’s role in bringing them back.
That process has faced many challenges, back to the day the red wolf was placed on the endangered species list in 1967.
SPECIES IN TROUBLE
Like their cousin the gray wolf, red wolves were killed by early American settlers for their fur and for the threat they posed to livestock.
That, combined with loss of native habitat, caused the red wolf population to dwindle to 17 wolves by the early 1970s.
In 1973, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service approved launching a recovery plan for the red wolf.
At the time, Point Defiance volunteered its breeding facilities simply because it had the space and wanted to help, said captive breeding program coordinator Will Waddell.
“We recognized there was a need, and that the wolves were in trouble,” said Waddell, who has worked at the zoo for 23 years. “It wasn’t anything flashy – it was just that we wanted to help.”
The zoo started with 14 wolves. Turning that number into a thriving population hasn’t been easy, Waddell said.
Because closely related wolves who breed together have more health defects, the breeding staff at Point Defiance had to be careful to prevent inbreeding.
The recovery program staff keeps genetic records of every captive wolf in the program so it can match each with genetically distinct mates. Wolves that weren’t intended to breed were separated during mating season.
“It’s been kind of analogous to a computer dating service,” Waddell said. “We have the pedigree on all those wolves back to the 14 original founders. So there are computer programs that help figure out which are best to mate to maintain the genetic diversity of the population.”
Today the captive red wolf population has grown to more than 200 wolves at facilities throughout the country, and wolves are often shuffled between facilities to get optimum breeding results.
Recovery program workers have also been gathering and freezing red wolf sperm samples to help guarantee a diverse selection of DNA to breed red wolves in the future.
Having those samples is almost like having new wolves to introduce into the population at any given point, said Karen Goodrowe Beck, red wolf reproductive adviser.
“It’s not a technology that we need to use for reproduction for today, but it’s rather a strategic move,” Goodrowe Beck said. “We’re looking toward the future of the population.”
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Zoo has a lot to howl about
