Would you like to directly impact the future of a critically endangered species?
Currently, the US Fish and Wildlife Service is in the process of determining if the Red Wolf Recovery Program will continue. This project has great personal significance to me, given that I was directly involved in efforts to save this species. In 2009, while working at Lincoln Park Zoo I flew from Chicago with four, 1 week old red wolf pups in a carry-on suitcase! We were head to Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina to link up with biologists to cross-foster the captive born pups into wild red wolf dens to bolster the wild red wolf population.
Click here for my 2009 travel blog featured on Lincoln Park Zoo’s website with lots of photos.
This species is one of the most endangered carnivores in the world (only about 80-110 in the wild) and drastic measures were and are needed to save it. With the intensive conservation measures mentioned above the population is slowly increasing but more work is required.
If you feel that red wolves are worth saving, please send your comments, concerns, or information to the following e-mail: redwolfreview@fws.gov. Input needs to be provided by September 26th (next Friday)
Additional information on the Red Wolf Recovery Program can be found by clicking here.
Thanks for your support!
Owen
I was walking along a path in Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge when I heard lots of rustling behind where I had just come from. I turned back and saw a black snake flopping around on the ground and then all of a sudden it stopped. I raced back with my camera and started taking pictures. It wasn’t until I got close enough that I realized this black racer had ambushed a juvenile copperhead (venomous) and was in the process of eating it! The only way this snake would be able to eat the venomous copperhead without dying is if it managed to get the head into it’s mouth before the snake could bite it, and then suffocate it to death which must have been what the initial rustling was. The next few photos are of the racer consuming the copperhead, an event that to my knowledge has never been documented or photographed before!
After less than 30 seconds, the black racer elevated the front part of it’s body off the ground and slithered into the bushes with the copperhead firmly grasped in the mouth and two thirds of the body dangling alongside the racer.
I took this photo just after the snkae had finished off the copperhead. No doubt it was going to need to rest and digest for awhile.
Owen Slater Photography 