Red wolf genie is out of the bottle

Since 1988, many people have wondered when the decision to release red wolves in eastern North Carolina would return to haunt the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

That day apparently has arrived.

A Tyrrell County landowner, Jett Ferebee, has been complaining about red wolves and red wolf/coyote hybrids — which he called “Super Coyotes” — moving off their home territory, Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, establishing packs on private land and decimating deer, rabbits and other small game. Ferebee said he’s contacted USFWS officials Bud Fazio and Dave Rabon in Manteo and asked them to remove the wolves but has gotten no significant results.

We talked to Rabon, and apparently, the USFWS requires documented proof of property damage, which makes it kind of hard on Ferebee to prove his case. How does one film a wolf attacking a deer fawn or destroying a nest of rabbits or quail eggs in a broomsedge field? Rabon countered by saying that red wolves are often blamed for damage done by coyotes and wild-running dogs.

Both Ferebee and Rabon likely are telling the truth.

The problem started in the 1980s when the FWS took the approach that any release of wild animals into a former habitat was rational wildlife management. Animal-rightists pushed the agency to reintroduce many predators to former habitats, including gray wolves in western states’ national parks, notably Yellowstone. Pretty soon, those wolves were causing trouble for nearby sheep and cattle ranchers. Timber wolves released in the upper Midwest have played havoc on deer herds. North Carolina’s turn has come with red wolves.

Obviously, the federal wildlife agency couldn’t have foreseen the explosion of coyotes in North Carolina. For that, the blame rests on nature and fox hunters who penned coyotes in order to have better “races” for their hounds — but those coyotes later escaped. Nor could the USFWS have predicted red wolves would mate with these coyotes.

But that’s just the point. Red wolves never should have been released in North Carolina because the decision violated a basic wildlife management principle — releasing non-native animals and plants into an environment that has developed without them may cause unpredictable results.

Well, you say, red wolves once existed in North Carolina. Sure they did — almost 200 years ago.

The Tarheel State also once was home to mountain lions, but no one is pushing to have cougars released at Umstead National Park or on game lands.

This is a genie-out-of-the-bottom problem now, but people such as Ferebee deserve help. And maybe one day the rest of us will too when red wolves and super coyotes roam our neighborhoods at night.