The landowners say they live in fear of the animals. Zoos and other institutions play an important role in the red wolf recovery program by maintaining a healthy, genetically diverse population of releasable red wolves. In 1997, a female born at the National Zoo successfully bred with a male on Florida's St. Vincent Island, producing six pups, five of which survive. If all goes well, these pups will later be released on the mainland. Meanwhile, another National Zoo-born red wolf, the St. Vincent female's sister, has just been released on Mississippi's Horn Island, along with a male from the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma, Washington.
Conservationists are proud to have put red wolves back in the East.
Friends of the National Zoo.