Back from the brink
In our Red Wolf Woods, hidden in dappled shade, two bright eyes are looking at you. You stare back. Then their owner ducks and turns, loping easily over fallen logs to settle into the sunshine. Our American Red Wolves aren’t just beautiful – they’re part of an award-winning conservation program that has saved this iconic species from extinction.
Discover the Woods
Protecting American Red Wolves
THE THREAT: By the 1970s, very few American Red Wolves existed on the planet, due to ceaseless hunting. By the 1980s, Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, established a zoo-based breeding program using 14 wolves from the wild to restore the population.
TAKE ACTION: Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium joined other zoos and agencies across the country to save the critically endangered Red Wolf, breeding and reintroducing them in the wild. There are now about 20 wolves in the wild, and about 270 at zoos and other partner facilities participating in the American Red Wolf Saving Animals From Extinction (SAFE) program. They still need our protection if they are to survive.