NC News: Red Wolf Pack welcomes 5 Puppies

NC News

June 24, 2025

Red Wolf Pack Welcomes 5 Puppies

Wolf Puppies

Dr. Tara Harrison leads a group of students including Sean Hubbard (c/o 2026), Trina Dedes (c/o 2028), Madeline Yde (c/o 2028) and Sydney McManus (c/o 2028) to check in on a litter of approximately three week old red wolf puppies.

As part of the most endangered wolf species in the world, the puppies mark a joyful moment for NC State’s Carnivore Conservation Crew.

NC State’s College of Veterinary Medicine has welcomed five new puppies into its red wolf pack. They arrived in May, much to the delight of students and faculty members in the Carnivore Conservation Crew, which is part of a nationwide effort to save red wolves — the world’s most endangered wolf species — from extinction.

“We have been involved in the Red Wolf Recovery Program since 2001, and we are just ecstatic over the births of these pups,” said Dr. Tara Harrison, associate professor of zoo and exotic animal medicine. “We’re not only making a difference today, we’re making a difference in the future.”

Red wolves were headed for extinction in the 1970s when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service captured 14 and created a captive breeding and release program. About 250 red wolves currently are under human care at about 50 partner facilities, including NC State, the Museum of Life and Science in Durham and the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro.

Fewer than 20 red wolves live in the wild, all inside the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge on the North Carolina coast. With its world-class veterinary clinicians and facilities just hours away, NC State’s College of Veterinary Medicine is vital to the federal Red Wolf Recovery Program. The Carnivore Conservation Crew — made up of about 50 NC State veterinary students — volunteer to be a part of teams that feed, water and care for the wolves each day.

Learn more about NC State’s red wolf conservation efforts here: https://cvm.ncsu.edu/outreach/red-wolf-conservation/.