Red Wolf Theories

One of the three stories on red wolves (referred to in my earlier post today, "Red Wolf Longevity") recently in the High Point Enterprise dealt with the controversy over the efforts to save a species some believed to be a hybrid animal.

The article, by Barbara Arntsen, quotes NC Zoo keeper Hannah Decker: "Some scientists said the red wolf was an ancient hybrid, and others said they (sic) were a distinct species."

Some who argued that the red wolf was not a distinct species did so because it can produce "sexually viable offspring from a union with a coyote", Arntsen wrote. A group called Citizens Rights Over Wolves Now (CROWN) believed the efforts to protect red wolves should cease for this reason. (Some members had other reasons, than scientific disagreement, to want the protection to end...reasons they felt affected their "citizen rights".)

The matter ended up in court, where the red wolves and their defenders prevailed.

"Eventually there was more scientific evidence leaning toward classifying the red wolf as an individual species," was the quote of Decker which ended Arntsen's article.