Takeaways from AP’s reporting on efforts to restore endangered red wolves to the wild

By ALLEN G. BREED
AP National Writer

ALLIGATOR RIVER NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, N.C. (AP) — Over 25 years, the red wolf went from being declared extinct in the wild to becoming hailed as an Endangered Species Act success story. But the only wolf species unique to the United States is once again at the brink. The last wild populations are clinging to life on two federal refuges in eastern North Carolina. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is poised to release a new recovery plan for the species. But it relies heavily on cooperation from private landowners to share a fragile, shrinking landscape with the apex predator, and many landowners aren’t welcoming to “America’s Wolf.”