Red Wolf Coalition v. North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission: Better Red than Dead

This Article demonstrates how federal district court decisions have protected the threatened red wolf. The history of red wolf introduction and the Fourth Circuit decision in Gibbs v. Babbitt are reviewed. In 2012, North Carolina allowed coyote hunting in the red wolf recovery area. The District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina correctly issued an injunction stop­ping the action.

The court held North Carolina set in motion events that led to the killing of red wolves and violated federal regulations regarding the taking of red wolves. The resulting settlement agreement precluded state interference with red wolf recovery. Genetic studies have questioned the red wolfs taxonomic status. The Article posits that the red wolf should retain Endangered Species Act protections even if it is a gray wolf-coyote hybrid.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at­tempted to curtail red wolf recovery in 2016. The federal dis­trict court properly halted the proposal.