Red Wolf Conservation

Help the North Carolina Continue to Protect the American Red Wolf

The American Red Wolf is Earth’s rarest Canid, and the North Carolina Zoo is intimately involved in saving this all-American wolf from extinction.

The world’s population of American Red Wolves currently numbers around 300—a substantial increase from the 1980s, when only 17 of them remained alive. 

Through careful breeding and thoughtful rearing practices, more than 35 American zoological institutions have collaborated over the years to grow that population large enough to allow the US Fish & Wildlife Service to try to reestablish a wild population of these wolves in eastern North Carolina. 

The North Carolina Zoo houses the second-largest breeding population of these wolves and cooperates with 50 other zoos to protect the species’ genetic diversity and prepare our pups to live in the wild.

We want to continue supporting the wild population and help prepare for a second future reintroduction site by building additional breeding facilities on site. Ours are full, and so are 97 percent of the breeding facilities in the other 50 zoos.

Please give now to help us expand our capacity to breed additional wolves and care for the 20-plus living here now.    

To donate, enter your gift amount in the box at the top of the donation page. Begin by clicking here.