THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 11, 1995 TAG: 9502110091
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
Federal officials are considering whether more than $100,000 from North Carolina's endangered-species program will be withheld because of a state law allowing residents of two coastal counties to kill red wolves.
Two red wolves have been shot to death since the law took effect Dec. 1, and another was caught in a trap and drowned. They had left the Alligator River Wildlife Preserve, wildlife officials say. The wolves are a federally protected species.
The law allows residents of Hyde and Washington counties to kill red wolves if the animals come onto private property and are perceived to pose a threat to people or livestock.
Gary Henry, an endangered-species specialist with the state Fish and Wildlife Service, said the agency has turned the case over to the solicitor general of the U.S. Department of Interior to determine whether North Carolina is still eligible for federal funds.
The legislator responsible for the law, Rep. Zeno L. Edwards, R-Beaufort, told the Winston-Salem Journal on Thursday that the state doesn't need the federal money.
``Tell them to stick it,'' Edwards said. ``I'm not the least bit concerned about what the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says.''
For almost six months, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has questioned whether the state Wildlife Resources Commission is in compliance with a cooperative agreement that calls for the state to protect and manage rare, threatened or endangered species.
Randall C. Wilson, the state endangered-species coordinator, said that his agency receives $118,000 a year from the federal government as part of a cooperative agreement under the Endangered Species Act.
The federal agency has renewed its agreement for this year, but that could be jeopardized by the Interior Department's decision on the red wolves.
``They say they're still waiting for a decision from their attorney on the red-wolf law,'' Wilson said.
In a letter to the federal agency, state wildlife officials wrote that the red-wolf law does not interfere with the state's program to protect endangered species because the red wolf is classified as ``an experimental, nonessential population.''
Forty-two of the animals were known to be at or near the refuge in Dare County last year.
Edwards says the wolves pose a threat to humans.
``There have been two of them trapped in Beaufort County, and I'd be a fool if they're not up into Pitt and Martin counties before long,'' Edwards said.
The wolf was extinct in the wild in 1980. Federal authorities introduced it to eastern North Carolina in 1987 as part of an experiment to replenish the population.
Federal wildlife-enforcement officials have said they are considering pressing charges against anyone found to be responsible for the animals' deaths. If convicted, a person could face a $100,000 federal penalty and up to one year in prison. by CNB