"The species known today as Algonquin wolves(synonyms=Eastern Wolf/Red Wolf) used to be found across eastern North America"............... "Now there are only a few small pockets of them remaining, mostly in central Ontario and southern Quebec(50 or so on the North Carolina Barrier Islands)"........... "Over the last few centuries, the species has lost most of its historical range in northeastern North America and has been extirpated from the Atlantic provinces and the eastern United States".............. "The current known “extent of occurrence” of Algonquin wolves within Ontario is only about 80,000 km2"............... "The most recent population estimate from COSSARO( the Committee on the Status of Species at Risk in Ontario) puts the number of mature wolves between 250 and 1,000, of which about two-thirds live in Ontario".......... "However, scientists warn that the actual population size is likely closer to the lower end of this range"............ "This exceptionally low number of individuals puts the longterm survival of the Algonquin wolf in question"............."As a general rule, a minimum population of 500 individuals is considered necessary for long-term survival"............."There is ample scientific evidence that top predators, like Algonquin wolves, are critical components of ecosystem health and warrant ecologically sound management, not only for their own intrinsic value but for the maintenance of biodiversity more broadly"

http://docs.assets.eco.on.ca/reports/environmental-protection/2017/Good-Choices-Bad-Choices-08.pdf

FAILING TO PROTECT A THREATENED SPECIES: ONTARIO ALLOWS HUNTING AND TRAPPING OF THE ALGONQUIN WOLF

ABSTRACT

 Ontario needs to protect threatened Algonquin wolves from hunting and trapping. Abstract Hunting and trapping is a central threat to the long-term survival of the Algonquin wolf, which is a threatened species at risk. Ontario’s Endangered Species Act prohibits threatened species from being killed or harmed, but the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry has chosen to exempt the Algonquin wolf from this important protection across much of its range. The ministry has opted to only protect Algonquin wolves from hunting and trapping in and around a few isolated provincial parks. Scientists have concluded that the Algonquin wolf stands little chance of recovery unless the ministry bans hunting and trapping of wolves and coyotes throughout its range.

Range of the Algonquin(Eastern Wolf in Ontario(gray region
with blue dots showing majority of Wolf activity

WILD RED WOLVES CAPTURED

 ON FILM IN NORTH CAROLINA

Posted on January 22, 2018 by Maggie Howell

With only 28 know red wolves remaining in the wild, these two beauties could be the last you see.

The red wolf is an American icon that makes our country’s wild lands whole and healthy. It’s one of the few large carnivore species endemic to the United States. Their importance to a balanced and resilient ecosystem is undeniable. And red wolf recovery should be a matter of pride and priority for our nation. Hunting, trapping, and poisoning caused the initial extinction of red wolves in the wild. Today the world’s most endangered wolf is facing extinction for a second time, but at the hands of our government.

For a while, thanks to sustained federal leadership, the red wolf recovery effort was making steady progress. The wild population peaked at an estimated 130 wolves in 2006 and remained above 100 for several years.

But in 2014, USFWS halted all key management activity and the wild red wolf population plummeted to its lowest level in decades.

On September 12, 2016, USFWS published its long-awaited Red Wolf Program Review. The agency proposes a new rule that significantly changes the size, scope and management of the current red wolf recovery program. The rule includes USFWS’s plan to pull the last wild red wolves from most of their range in North Carolina to put them in captivity. Ironically, the federal agency claimed its decision was “based on the best and latest scientific information” from the red wolf Population Viability Analysis (PVA).

But the very scientists who drafted the PVA charge that USFWS based its plan on “many alarming misinterpretations” of their scientific analysis and warn that USFWS’s plan “will no doubt result in the extinction of red wolves in the wild.” In a letter they ask the agency to “edit or append” its decision.

USFWS’s misinterpretation of science represents the most recent blow the agency has delivered to the world’s most endangered wolf species.

Due to the Service’s neglect and inaction over the past few years, red wolves are facing extinction with only 28 known remaining in the wild.

Adding insult to injury, a in a November 20, 2017 Senate report (Page 17), some senators direct USFWS to “… end the Red Wolf recovery program and declare the Red Wolf extinct.”

USFWS, the very agency charged by federal law with protecting endangered species, needs to recommit to red wolf recovery in the wild. Urge your Senators to give red wolves a fighting chance!

TAKE ACTION HERE.

http://www.thesudburystar.com/2017/10/25/ont-failing-to-protect-special-wolves-report

Ont. failing 

to 

protect 

special 

wolves:

 Report

By Jim Moodie The Sudbury Star

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

To read the chapter on Algonquin wolves in the
 environmental commissioner’s report, visit tinyurl.com/y7cobtsx.

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Rutledge LY, Devillard S, Boone JQ, Hohenlohe PA, White BN (2015) RAD sequencing and genomic simulations resolve hybrid origins within North American Canis. Biology Letters 11(7): 20150303. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2015.0303

Abstract

Top predators are disappearing worldwide, significantly changing ecosystems that depend on top-down regulation. Conflict with humans remains the primary roadblock for large carnivore conservation, but for the eastern wolf (Canis lycaon), disagreement over its evolutionary origins presents a significant barrier to conservation in Canada and has impeded protection for grey wolves (Canis lupus) in the USA.

 Here, we use 127 235 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) identified from restriction-site associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq) of wolves and coyotes, in combination with genomic simulations, to test hypotheses of hybrid origins of Canis types in eastern North America.

A principal components analysis revealed no evidence to support eastern wolves, or any other Canis type, as the product of grey wolf × western coyote hybridization. In contrast, simulations that included eastern wolves as a distinct taxon clarified the hybrid origins of Great Lakes-boreal wolves and eastern coyotes. Our results support the eastern wolf as a distinct genomic cluster in North America and help resolve hybrid origins of Great Lakes wolves and eastern coyotes. The data provide timely information that will shed new light on the debate over wolf conservation in eastern North America.