Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 6, 1993 TAG: 9302060226
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
LOVE MATCH ISN'T A HOWLING SUCCESS
THE SECOND RED WOLF in the Explore-Mill Mountain Zoo endangered-species breeding program arrived Friday. And now, the mating game begins.
Friday was not a day for romance.
Unless you count the romantic notion of patching up the holes in the environment.
On a secluded hillside in eastern Roanoke County, a small knot of onlookers gathered to watch Roanoke's newest couple, two red wolves whose species teeters on the brink of extinction, introduce themselves to each other.
They didn't see much.
No. 282, who's been here since September, stayed out of sight, hunkered down somewhere in the recesses of his pen.
When the newly arrived No. 457 refused to budge from her traveling kennel, keepers unceremoniously dumped her out onto the ground; and she darted for cover, too.
Every now and then, the folks behind the joint venture of the Explore Park and Mill Mountain Zoo to breed endangered North American species caught a glimpse of a tawny shape pacing back and forth.
But only when they pressed their eyes into the single set of binoculars that was passed around.
Still, that was enough for them. After two years of work, Explore's environmental director, Rupert Cutler, and Mill Mountain Zoo Director Beth Poff finally could proclaim their endangered-species breeding program under way.
Someday, they envision an entire complex, on the farm Explore owns on Rutrough Road, dedicated to breeding rare and endangered North American species.
Not that the public, though, will see much.
The farm's not open to visitors.
This breeding program isn't a tourist attraction. Instead, it's all done in the name of science. Good grief, the animals don't even have names, just numbers.
Cutler and Poff talk about changing that. They're planning a contest for Roanoke Valley schoolchildren to name the two red wolves.
Not that folks should become too attached to them, though, because these particular creatures may not be staying here permanently.
There's a national committee of scientists that mixes and matches the 200 red wolves in captivity in a kind of genetic "Dating Game."
Roanoke's male, No. 282, came from the zoo in Wheeling, W.Va., where he was a proven stud. The female, No. 457, comes from the zoo in Tacoma, Wash. She's only 2 years old, and has yet to produce a litter.
When she does - which could come as early as April or May - the Species Survival Program committee will decide where the offspring go. Some could go to other zoos. Some could go into the wild. So far, about 30 red wolves have been reintroduced into the North Carolina swamps and the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee.
That's progress: In the early 1970s, the species - once the dominant predator from Maryland to Texas - had dwindled to 17 purebred animals, who were captured and whisked off to zoos to save them from extinction.
The goal someday is to have 300 red wolves in captivity and another 200 in the wild. When that happens, Cutler says, "we'll be able to say the red wolf has recovered in the wild."
That goal will depend, in a small way, on what kind of romance No. 282 and No. 457 can strike up. If Friday's introductory session is any guide, things could take awhile.
After an hour or so, No. 282 finally emerged from his den. "They sort of followed each other around and sniffed each other," said Lori Spangler, one of the keepers with the endangered-species project. "But while they were sniffing noses, she snapped at him and now I think his feelings are hurt."
Memo: ***CORRECTION***