RALEIGH, N.C.— The Center for Biological Diversity will present oral arguments Wednesday in a federal court case that will decide whether the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service unlawfully refused to increase federal Endangered Species Act protections for critically endangered red wolves. The wolves are currently classified as a “nonessential” population, affording them fewer protections.

“The world’s last wild population of red wolves is essential to the survival and recovery of this species, and that’s what we will prove in court on Wednesday,” said Perrin de Jong, a senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity. “Red wolves don’t have time to wait for the Fish and Wildlife Service to get its act together. They need stronger protections now.”

What: Oral arguments in a lawsuit challenging the Service’s decision to continue classifying the world’s last wild population of red wolves as “nonessential.” The case is titled Center for Biological Diversity v. Haaland et al (2:23-cv-00058-BO-BM).

When: Wednesday, July 23, 2 p.m. ET.

Where: The U.S. Courthouse at 310 New Bern Ave, Raleigh, North Carolina 27601. The hearing will be held on the seventh floor in courtroom two.

Who: Center for Biological Diversity attorneys and counsel for the wolf advocates will be outside the courtroom to answer questions after the hearing.

Background

Tens of thousands of red wolves once roamed across most of eastern North America, but by 1960 they were nearly extinct. Red wolves were saved by Endangered Species Act protections, which led to a captive breeding program.

In 1986 the Service established an experimental population of red wolves in North Carolina’s Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge and designated it as nonessential. While seeing subsequent growth, the red wolf program was halted in 2015 and the population crashed to as few as seven wolves.

In 2016 the Center and allies petitioned the Service to reclassify the population as essential and eliminate allowances for private landowners to kill non-offending wolves. In January 2023 the Service denied the Center’s petition.

Because North Carolina’s red wolf experimental population is the only wild population of the species, its loss would eliminate the species from the wild. The law therefore compels the Service to designate the population as essential and provide greater safeguards to the red wolves, like protection of critical habitat, according to the lawsuit. The suit also aims to compel the agency to remove rules providing that private landowners may needlessly shoot red wolves.

Learn more about the 16 known remaining wild red wolves at SaveRedWolves.org.