
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 2, 1995                   TAG: 9505020137
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

GREENER PASTURES FOR RED WOLF

Old No.282, the male red wolf in the Explore Park/Mill Mountain Zoo rare-animal breeding program, has come to the end of his genetic duty.

The 10-year-old wolf was found by one of his keepers just over a week ago, dead of gastric torsion, a twisting of the intestines.

He had seemed healthy, but "he was definitely in his gray years," said Mill Mountain Zoo Director Beth Poff. In captivity, red wolves usually live to be 7 to 12 years old.

According to Poff, two or three other red wolves in the nationwide breeding program have died of the same cause.

But 282 lived a full - not to mention productive - life. He sired 12 pups at various zoos, including five born on Mother's Day 1994 while he was in Roanoke at the American Center for Rare and Endangered Species.

He came to Roanoke from the Good Zoo in Wheeling, W.Va., in December 1992. His mate, No.457, arrived the following February. Their first attempts at parenthood were unsuccessful, but Poff says the five pups they did have all are doing well. They will be placed in the breeding program or released into the wild later this year.

The red wolf once ranged from Maryland to Texas, but by the 1970s, the species had dwindled to only 17 purebred animals. Those were taken to a zoo in Washington state to save them from extinction.

After careful breeding efforts, the captive red wolf population was increased to about 200 by the middle of last year, plus another 30 that had been released into the wild in North Carolina and Tennessee.

But scientists say the species won't be safe until there are 300 animals in captivity and 200 roaming free. Poff says the recovery program hopes to reach that goal in five to 10 years.

Another male will be brought in this fall to pair with No.457.

Meanwhile, Mill Mountain Zoo is planning to expand its repertoire to include snow leopards. The Blue Ridge Zoological Society of Virginia started a fund drive Saturday to construct an exhibit for the leopards at the zoo.

A portion of the proceeds from sales at Kroger and Food Lion of the new Nabisco animal cookies highlighting endangered species will go to the fund drive.

by CNB