The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) announced Jan. 4 that it filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), asserting that the agency “illegally refused to comply” with a Freedom of Information Act request made by CBD for more information on the “Trump Administration’s Red Wolf Extinction Plan.”
“The public has every right to know whether the Trump administration is working to save the red wolf or if our wildlife managers are focused on ensuring its extinction,” said Perrin de Jong, a CBD staff attorney.
“Refusing to release agency emails only feeds our worst suspicions that the administration has been working in secret to create a reckless red wolf extinction plan.”
The red wolf is listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act with active captive breeding efforts ongoing.
Efforts have been made to release captive-bred wolves into the wild in the Carolinas, but rampant interbreeding with coyotes in the area is “endangering” the continued existence of the wolf.
Research in recent years has cast doubt on the status of the red wolf, with some research finding that the red wolf is genetically 75 percent coyote, while other research suggests it is a separate species of wolf that shares a more recent common ancestor with coyotes than other species of wolf.
