Thanks to you, we have successfully raised $2 million to build wildlife crossings in red wolf territory.
In May, an anonymous donor issued a $2 million match challenge to build wildlife crossings across U.S. 64, a highway that runs through the heart of red wolf country. For the past eight months, the Center for Biological Diversity, Wildlands Network, and the Save Red Wolves coalition have been fundraising to meet the match. On December 17, we achieved the $2 million goal.
More than 13,000 individual donors contributed to the wildlife crossings campaign. In addition, several major donors provided incredibly generous gifts, including the Okavango Foundation, the Wildlife Crossings Fund, and The Volgenau Foundation and many others.
There’s even more good news: the $4 million raised through the match challenge just enabled North Carolina to receive a $25 million federal grant to build 13 wildlife crossings in red wolf territory.
These wildlife crossings will protect endangered red wolves and dozens of other species, including river otters, bobcats, white-tailed deer, spotted turtles and black bears.
Thanks to you, red wolves now have a fighting chance. You have provided a lifesaving solution for a species on the knife’s edge of extinction.
We are immensely grateful to all of you for stepping up in a critical moment to save red wolves.
Yerharahčrę́·tih
Birth Year: 2017
Family: Milltail pack
Tag: 2225F
Hope (also nicknamed Pam) is the mother of 19 red wolves across three generations. She gave birth to six pups in 2022 and five pups in 2023—and also fostered a sixth captive-born pup who was placed in her care. In 2024, she gave birth to eight pups with her new breeding partner, Finch. Hope is the matriarch of the Milltail pack, and her Tuscarora name means “She brings hope.” Hope has saved the wild red wolf population, which had dropped to as few as seven before her first pups arrived. She and her offspring have brought new hope to the red wolves’ future.
Ríʔę haʔ Urʔę́hseh
Birth Year: 2017
Family: Milltail pack
Tag: 2191M
Finch’s Tuscarora name means “Father of the Clan.” Finch is a captive born male who was released into Milltail Pack territory to mate with Hope after Hope‘s previous partner died in a vehicle collision. Finch was kept in an acclimation pen with True—one of Hope’s daughters—to help his chances of being accepted into the pack. Finch successfully bred with Hope in the spring of 2024 and sired eight pups.
Thiyeyehsę́·te
Birth Year: 2022
Family: Milltail pack
Tag: 2413F
Chance was born in 2022 to Hope (2225F). She recently gave birth to pups of her own. he is the first of Hope’s offspring to breed. Chance’s breeding partner was killed by vehicle strike just six weeks after she gave birth, leaving Chance to raise five pups on her own as a first-time mom. Unfortunately, none of her pups survived. Her name in Tuscarora means “She is a special one.”
Yehahné tih
Birth Year: 2022
Family: Milltail pack
Tag: 2412F
Blaze (also nicknamed Dot) is the most social and active of the red wolves in the Milltail pack. Blaze was born in 2022. She is one of the most wide-ranging red wolves, and she is playful, energetic, and curious. Her Tuscarora name means “She makes the path.”
Ratú·ra·č
Birth Year: 2022
Family: Milltail pack
Tag: 2411M
Hunter is a juvenile male from the 2022 litter and has a distinctive fox-like face and coloration. His name means ‘He is a Hunter’ in Tuscarora. Hunter helped protect the 2023 litter of pups after their father died.
In 2023, Hunter was placed in an acclimation pen with a female from the Pungo pack, but they did not mate, and both were eventually re-released from the pen into the wild.
Yehahę́hneʔ
Family: Milltail pack
Tag: 2414F
True is a female with light cinnamon-brown coloration. In December 2023, she was temporarily placed in an acclimation pen with Finch to help him gain Hope’s attention. True often follows her slitter mates, and her Tuscarora name means “She who follows the path.”
Yęʔnawę̀·rih
Birth Year: 2023
Family: Milltail pack
Tag: 2503F
Traveler is similar to her older sister Blaze. Both are active, energetic, and bold. Traveler is the most outgoing and adventurous of her 2023 litter mates and moves with confidence across the landscape. Her Tuscarora name means “She travels around.”
Yeʔnęnęhskwáhthaʔ
Birth Year: 2023
Family: Milltail pack
Tag: 2502F
Ghost is elusive and rarely seen. She often slinks through irrigation ditches to travel furtively across the refuge. Her Tuscarora name means “She is stealthy.”
Birth Year: 2023
Family: Milltail pack
Tag: 2500M
Forest is a blondish male and the runt of the 2023 litter. He remains smaller than his siblings and has distinctively floppy ears. Forest is shy and elusive, but he gained confidence by following his older brothers and sisters. He is often seen in forested habitats, and is Tuscarora names means “He who moves easily through the forest.”
Ręhahaye·ráʔthaʔ
Birth Year: 2023
Family: Milltail Pack
Tag: TBD
Shadow was orginially born in a captive breeding facility in Tacoma, Washington. He was fostered into the Milltail pack to help increase genetic diversity. Shadow has a darker coat that many of the other red wolves. His Tuscarora name means “He who clears the way.”
Rahahę́·tih
Birth Year: 2021
Family: Pungo Pack
Tag: 2307M
Pathmaker is the breeding male of the Pungo pack. He and Hope gave birth to two female pups in 2023. His Tuscarora name means ‘He Who Makes the Path’ in the language of the indigenous Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina. Pathmaker protects the only pack of red wolves in the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge.
Utaʔkrękę·haʔnęʔ Kakúʔę
Birth Year: 2021
Family: Pungo pack
Tag: 2361F
Spring is the breeding female of the Pungo pack. Her Tuscarora name means ‘Mother of a Nation’ in the language of the Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina. Spring gave birth to two females in 2023. She is matriarch of the only wolf pack in Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge.
Kayęʔnaʔnęnę́thyar
Birth Year: 2023
Family: Pungo pack
Tag: 2514F
Shield is one of two female pups born in 2023. Her Tuscarora name means ‘She Protects’ in the language of the indigenous Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina. She and her sister Hawkeye are the only two known juveniles in the Pungo pack.
Yęʔnewęyéhsthaʔ
Birth Year: 2023
Family: Pungo
Tag: 2515F
Hawkeye is one of two female pups born in 2023. She and 2514F are the only two known juveniles in the Pungo pack.
