8 pups born to a critically endangered pack of red wolves near the Outer Banks

A day after news broke of a fourth red wolf death in 10 months on an Outer Banks highway, US Fish and Wildlife announced a new den for the critically endangered species on Friday.

Eight red wolf pups were born last month from what is known as the Milltail pack, a family of wolves that live on the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge on the mainland, just west of the Outer Banks.

“Although this is the third year in a row for a litter in that area, it was far from a given that this would happen this year following the tragic loss of 2,323 (the previous breeding males in the Milltail family group) in September 2023,” said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Red Wolf Recovery Program in a social media post.

Last spring, “2323” was the only male American red wolf breeding in the wild. He and his partner produced two litters in two years, a major victory in bringing back a species declared extinct in 1980. Last fall he was hit by a car and killed on US Highway 64.

Red wolves live in the wild in five eastern North Carolina counties: Dare, Hyde, Tyrrell, Beaufort and Washington, after a few pairs were released in 1987 as a reintroduction experiment at the Alligator River refuge.

Over the past decade the recovery program has struggled, with the population dwindling to just a dozen wolves left in the wild.

In 2020, recovery efforts began again with the introduction of several wolves from the captive breeding programs.

After the death of Red Wolf 2323 last September, recovery coordinators “made a bold effort to create a new breeding pair,” according to the program’s post.

In October, an acclimation pen was quickly constructed at Alligator River, within the home range of 2323’s mate. A male red wolf born at Wolf Haven International in Tenino, Washington as part of the Red Wolf SAFE (Saving Animals From Extinction) program was then placed in it. He was released from the pen at the end of January, just as the breeding season started. He and the female soon became a couple.

Biologists monitored the pair throughout the winter and early spring and saw hopeful signs that “this somewhat long-awaited new pair was looking increasingly likely to be successful,” the post said.

A look inside the den on April 18 revealed eight “tiny, contented red wolf pups, all cuddled together in a ball,” USFW said.

The puppies were estimated to be about nine days old and their eyes had not yet opened. They were quickly examined, chipped for future identification and cheek-swabbed for genetics before the team withdrew from the den.

“No further attempts will be made to go to or anywhere near the den as the best thing for these pups now is to give them the space and solitude they need to grow up in the wild,” the post said.