
Originally Posted by
Shoaldonkey
They sure did. Alligator River NWR is right up the road from me. The wolves also got Pocosin Lakes NWR which is literally right out my back door; giving them about 300k acres total- so maybe 450+ square miles just wasn't enough...so they fled the NWR's in search for more fruitful game opportunities on private land. Both of those refuges are a great place to check out a bear or a snow goose, but they are veritable wastelands for game. Mostly pocosin and bay; with the exception of the Pungo Unit, there isn't much in the way of game for a red wolf.
And a viable species??... They don't run off coyotes, they interbreed with them. There isn't a red wolf in the wild that doesn't have coyote genes coursing through its DNA. Great idea at the time, but a failed effort... There was nothing more cool than hearing them howling every evening, but the idea of Red Wolf introduction is dead. I'd suggest you do some more research, maybe pick up Dan Flores book; Coyote America. The 135 you speak of was because of intensive reintroduction and before the colossal coyote boom and interbreeding we have now.