Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium’s American Red Wolf sisters, Peat and Willow, recently left the zoo in a critical move for conservation. The pair was transferred to the zoo’s off-site breeding facility in Eatonville, Washington, a quiet, forested haven where some of the most important conservation work for this species takes place.

Their move is part of the SAFE (Saving Animals From Extinction) American Red Wolf program, which carefully matches wolves based on genetics and behavior to protect the long-term health of this critically endangered species. Both sisters have received breeding recommendations with males currently living at the Eatonville facility.

“This is an encouraging step in the ongoing effort to restore the Red Wolf population,” said Natalie Davis, a Curator at the zoo and Studbook Keeper for the SAFE program. “Every wolf matters when you’re working with numbers this small.”

Red Wolves are the only wolf species endemic to North America, and they play a crucial role in maintaining healthy ecosystems in the eastern United States. Losing them would mean losing not only a keystone species, but also a piece of our country’s history and heritage.

To prevent that loss, the SAFE program maintains an extensive studbook dating back to the late 1960s. Partner zoos and facilities nationwide collaborate closely, sharing wolves, information, and research, to build the healthiest future possible for the species. When a promising genetic match appears, animals are moved with the shared hope of seeing Red Wolves thrive again in the wild.

While Peat and Willow begin their new chapter, Point Defiance Zoo’s other two Red Wolves, Juno and Itabi, will continue residing at the zoo.

From the Brink of Extinction

By the 1970s, relentless hunting and habitat loss had pushed the species to the edge; only a handful survived in the wild. Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium partnered with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in the 1980s to create the nation’s first zoo-based Red Wolf breeding program. The zoo began with just 14 wild wolves, and eventually, it grew into an international conservation effort.

Today, an estimated 30 Red Wolves remain in the wild, living in eastern North Carolina. Their future is still fragile, and ongoing threats mean they urgently need continued protection.

The Eatonville breeding facility, run by both Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium and Northwest Trek Wildlife Park, is home to the largest population of Red Wolves in the world, with about 50 wolves living there at any given time. Thanks to decades of work by zoos, wildlife agencies, and conservationists, the population has climbed to roughly 270 wolves in human care.

Recent Success

• 46 Red Wolf pups have been born at the off-site breeding facility since 2020
• One pup born at the off-site facility in recent years was successfully fostered into the wild (placed into the den of wild parents and their similarly aged pups). This helps to enhance the genetic diversity of the wild population.
• Since 2021, 20 Red Wolves from SAFE facilities have been released into the wild, including two born at the off-site facility.
• One of the wolves born at Point Defiance Zoo’s off-site facility in 2016 was moved to the Endangered Wolf Center in Missouri in 2021 on a breeding recommendation. In spring 2022, his mate gave birth to a pup, and by the fall, the family of three moved to an acclimation pen in North Carolina. In spring 2023, the pair had four more pups, and the family was released into the wild.

“As Peat and Willow begin this next phase in the breeding program, they are contributing directly to the careful, science-based work of securing the Red Wolf’s future and the long-term conservation plan for the American Red Wolf continues to move forward,” said Davis.