History & Future of the American Red Wolf

The American red wolf (Canis rufus) lives on through the extraordinary efforts of over 40 cooperators in a program designed to save it from extinction. Meet the most endangered canid in the world and the people working toward its recovery. Reflection Riding and Defenders of Wildlife discuss the importance of this apex predator and give some history and context to how we got here and where we hope to take the program in the future.
We encourage you to learn more and visit your local red wolf cooperator.
Thanks to the Fish & Wildlife Service for offering renewed hope to the program in 2021.
Special thanks to the Temper of the Times Foundation for kicking off this video project and to Defenders of Wildlife for taking it to completion. Thanks to Reflection Riding, Roshan Patel and Neil Jernigan (www.neiljernigan.com) for providing footage of the red wolves for this film.
Reflection Riding staff Mark McKnight (President/CEO), Tish Gailmard (Director of Wildlife Conservation) and Taylor Berry (Director of Avian Conservation) discuss the significance of the red wolf program to Chattanooga and examine the local history of wolf extermination in Hamilton County. Defenders staff Heather Clarkson (Southeast Program Outreach Representative) and Ben Prater (Director Southeast Program) speak to the program's political and social context. Thanks to Reflection Riding supporter Robert Sharp III who volunteered to discuss the historical importance of wolves to his Native American ancestors.
Director: Joseph Schlabs. Producers: Mark McKnight and Ben Prater.

[@dhand34]

If you live in Nashville, the trip to Chattanooga is well worth the drive to see this place and its red wolves

[@jureklisowski]

Beautiful footage of a very beautiful and special species, we have to spread awareness to the let world know the 'reds' are critically endangered

[@SecretUser2000]

And it comes down to Disney even more. Not a lot of Disney Characters are of an extinct species. But Don Karnage, Flick Duck, Dumbo, Tigger, Shere Khan, PB&J Otter, Munchy Beaver, Simba, and Scar are all of an endangered species.

[@Christineeve]

It's really difficult to go back in time and assume what people were feeling or thinking. Yes, I imagine there was fear. But, also, ignorance, the definition of ignorance, an unknowing. I think the biggest mistake that was made was thinking these resources were unlimited. When people know better, they do better. That is why I support the Red Wolf initiative. Because we do know better now.

[@reflectionriding]

Great point and thank you!

[@dhand34]

right we enslaved certain people and killed off the predators

[@jamesblake7338]

I wish you all the luck in the world with this project! Would love to see this wonderful animal come back! ❤ from Southport North Carolina

[@SecretUser2000]

No one, at all, wishes that luck more than Don Karnage does. And no one makes a better case for it either. He makes kidnappings hilarious. He has a pilot's license. He travels more by air than by land and sea combined. And his best attribute of all is that he wears pants amid several stupid enemies who don't. There's no better festivity for an air show.

[@nes.torfernandez]

The work putting here is amazing! Lots of people appreciate it truly.

[@SecretUser2000]

No one, at all, appreciates it more than Don Karnage. And no one makes a better case for it either. He makes kidnappings hilarious. He has a pilot's license. He travels more by air than by land and sea combined. And his best attribute of all is that he wears pants amid several stupid enemies who don't. There's never a better exhibit for an air show.

[@ecowarrior79]

Thanks for all you do at Reflection Riding.

[@asoncalledvoonch2210]

The Florida Black wolf was endemic to the east coast as well. They were exterminated into extinction by 1908. Just so people don't get confused.

[@roelashay7950]

Really informative documentary. Enjoyed it! Great work in conserving their species.

[@jimmyking74]

Humans are the animals 😤

[@josephdimaggio28]

This is why the coyote population has become so large. We need the Red Wolf reintroduced into Louisiana. Great video!

[@trehubb6144]

Beautiful work done here. Recently learned about red wolves and the Florida Black Wolf.. Hopefully unlike the latter the red wolf is about to be successfully reintroduced back into the wild..

[@ebybeehoney]

This is the first animal I ever did a report on in school. I've always loves them.

[@jimnowak3960]

We created the demise of the Red Wolf after the removal of the Grey Wolf and Mexican Wolf from the greater South West. It took our government fifty years to rid the wolf problem in the U.S. Then came along the Prairie Wolf or Coyote to fill that void. Now we have a bad situation with the Coyote breeding with the last few pockets of Red Wolves. The last wolf killed was in 1960 Fort Apache Indian Reservation near Grasshopper Arizona. The wolf weighed 70 pounds and measured 30 inches at the shoulder. It was 5 feet 4 inched from the nose to the tail. Our great father of Biology (Aldo Leopold) played a very significant part in the demise of the Grey Wolf and Mexican Wolf. We all know that Grey Wolves and the Mexican Wolf would kill a Coyote on sight. Coyote population exploded thanks to man sticking his nose in where it does not belong. Every time man stick his nose into managing wildlife it get completely out of control. We have to small of gene pool of real Red Wolf and they will never be excepted back into the wild anywhere without persecution. I saw the last ones from Texas leave for Tacoma Washington it really broke my heart. The cinnamon color on their muzzles and fore legs was rich and beautiful. It was a very humbling day for me to see the last Red Wolf leave Texas forever. They had lived her for hundreds of years in peace. I am 76 years old now and still get sad about their leaving forever. At times I just want to sit down and cry. I truly loved those wolves. They were the most timid wild animals have been around. They would have been quit easy to domesticate.

[@YousirArdume]

We're in NE Texas and we have the ancestors of the red wolf here. I've got 13 wild coyotes & 3 wolves that I feed nightly. I would say that the 3 wolves I feed are coy-wolves or canis sup's, but they have the distinctive howl, coat and size and shape of intermediate wolves. 2 appear to be red wolf mostly and one definitely looks to be a Mexican Gray wolf crossbreed.

[@Doughnut_Fox]

LONG LIVE THE WOLVES

[@SecretUser2000]

Especially in honor of Don Karnage. For Comic Con, a villain party, a graduation party, or even an air show, there's no better festivity.

[@fgialcgorge7392]

They've always been one of my favorite animals, ever since I can remember and 37. Maybe I have a thing generalist or moderately sized apex predators because my favorite dinosaur was the Allosaurus since "it has good hands like a raptor and is like a TRex but faster" as my 6 year old self would tell you. I sincerely hope people let it thrive and don't subscribe to the "shoot, shovel, shut up" mindset there is in the west with our wolves. It breaks my heart. I finally have a pack around where I live in the Cascade Mountains and hearing these wild wolves howl at night is one of the most spine tinglingly beautiful things you can ever experience. The only thing I'd point out that's incorrect in the video is that while some African tribes were animistic generally speaking everything was and still is on the table. Native Americans certainly were animistic in many cases and believed all life was interconnected, usually, but they were also not averse to killing any animals, they just didn't go out with the intent of exterminating species with bounties on a massive scale.

[@johnpowell351]

Hello, maybe not a good idea to tell people where the wolves are ? Kind regards, Joanne 🐺

[@fgialcgorge7392]

@@johnpowell351 The Cascade Mountain Range is huge. No worries.

[@johnpowell351]

@@fgialcgorge7392 that's good to know, thank you 😊

[@SecretUser2000]

My big thing for red wolves is precisely Don Karnage. He's not just any enjoyable cartoon villain, but he makes kidnappings hilarious. He has a pilot's license. He travels more by air than by land and sea combined. And his best attribute of all is that he wears pants amid several stupid enemies who don't. For Comic Con, Furry Con, a Halloween party, a villain party, or even an air show, there no better festivity.

[@mikeboughton6687]

I live in Texas and we have coyotes and I'm very familiar with how they look and sound and behave and I'm telling you that we have wild red wolves out on my place 2 different small groups like 2 or so family's I guess but they have a very unique howl and don't cry like coyotes and look like a straight up wolf just more red to the coat but one was looking like a timber wolf with black white grey and some brownish red

[@smitmastaflex]

Protect them! Maybe call somebody

[@lalaloopsley4376]

I've seen them in Southern Louisiana, hoping that means they're making a come back to the gulf coast 🙏

[@luketracey3269]

They're doing great here in Nova Scotia btw;)They look slightly different but ...Does climate affect your nose shape? Previously, several studies have shown that the shapes of the nasal aperture and nasal cavity are correlated with climate variables related to temperature and humidity such that individuals from cold-dry climates exhibit narrower nasal cavities compared to individuals from warm-humid climates. Tons of these fluffy pooches up here lol

[@luketracey3269]

If you run out ? Let us know ...we can send you down a few lol

[@advent35]

I just thought this was pretty cool, we have I think what they call koywolves here at my farm I'm just trying to find out how to tell the difference. Just trying to figure out how to tell the difference. Kind of would be cool to help save the Red Wolf

[@sandraenriquez3128]

😍🐺

[@user-gc5og2yf5c]

Cherokee Indian at 2:05 everybody

[@Leftatalbuquerque]

I fail to see how bringing back the wolf will rid the river of microplastics...

[@smitmastaflex]

Less people

[@SecretUser2000]

It's equally important in honor of Don Karnage. For Comic Con, a villain party, a graduation party, or even an air show, there's no better festivity.

[@danrynazewski4151]

Very little change these animals will survive Humans..encroachment will kill them all...

[@philevans494]

red wolf proclivity to breed with other canine species dilutes chances for recovery. pristine exclusive territory for species purity will be difficult to maintain. experience ene of Houston in liberty county, etc., documents their 'strange stuff' breeding habit.

[@kvhvtke1935]

The red wolf is in Arkansas to a coyote Hunter accidentally killed a red wolf posted his kill of coyotes on the internet and a game warden sing the red wolf on there with the coyotes because they look similar and he went and arrested him there's more out there than you think it may be small pockets you can look it up

[@colinwalter9381]

Link?

[@tadblackington1676]

The red wolves should be reintroduced into the wild. But they will be absorbed into the eastern coyote/coywolf canis soup and recovery achieved.

[@007NunyaBizNess]

There is a reason our ancestors killed them.

[@Lowiqpeoplethinktheyresmart]

Awesome. Sadly human overpopulation will cause issues. 100 million new people in US since 1993. 8 million new people a year, that requires a lot more cars, traffic, pollution, buildings, litter etc. hopefully red wolves can be reintroduced some day

[@vikkbiff6029]

Anyone else feel strange at 3:31 that the wall is full of wolf pelts and here's this guy with his two dogs?. Humans have been the stupidest race alive in the past because dogs are loved and trusted, but they never could see any of that in wolves?!?. I suppose the difference between a dog and and wolf was almost comparable to black people and white people back in those days?. the way I look at it I can strongly relate the treatment and extermination of wolves to the persecution and killing of the native Americans. I think they also used killing wolves to make a point to the native peoples and psychologically hurt them just to be cruel. I am proud to say that I have quite a few reasons i dislike farmers, cowboys and many rural people. They only see life one way and don't want to think anything different. They fear and hate everything that they never learned about. They don't accept opinions and they don't trust anybody else and they don't want to bother to listen or try to learn anything different than their ways. I don't like how they treat their families and children and I hate that they frequently try to put some kind of religious ideals behind everything they do including killing wolves (of God's creation) and that God wants them to have all the land for themselves. of course farmers are the very people who make the foods we eat right?. So how can we hate them for that. and I don't suppose all country people dislike wolves, although that's only very recently changed. Like only back in the early 90's did more of the rural country people bother to listen and learn about wolves and let go of some of their fears. but back in the day animals were still animals and even a loyal trusted steed or dog was still livestock. Only extremely rarely was a dog or horse valued in the same way as a human family member. And you were only considered a whole human being by others if you were white and had the same religion as everyone else. Wolves have always made my life mean something more than it did without them and if you know how to embrace them and let them into your heart, you can learn a lot and do quite well by yourself and do better by others. if anything I think wolves look like a creature far too beautiful or majestic for such an ugly world as this. wolves should be as mythical and revered as unicorns who don't exist. But if wolves didn't exist in this world then I can bet that unlike unicorns which are so pure and beautiful in myth and lore, wolves would have still taken on a very evil image in the minds of humans. I'm glad wolves didn't go extinct because these fools of the world as well as us never could have learned about who they actually are and that they aren't man-eaters.

[@Zach-sg5uu]

This is terrible!!

[@mehmetyildirim5953]

🐺💋🐺💋🐺🐺

[@pbp1701]

Wolves would help with the coyotes only reason it might be good for them to be back. They'd eat your cats and dogs also you'd wanna keep small kids in the house. I say we reintroduce the T-rex also. We really need alot more Apex predictors in the urban areas.

[@proudlywild1491]

Dude are u upset about red wolves

[@mehmetyildirim5953]

Ich liebe wölfe