TACOMA – A critically endangered red wolf gave birth to eight healthy pups — twice as many as expected — at the Point Defiance Zoo this month, and now zoo staff are asking for the public’s help in naming them.
Charlotte, a 4-year-old red wolf, had three males and five females May 10 and 11. A ninth pup didn’t survive.
Fewer than 50 red wolves remain in the wild, and about 200 in captive breeding facilities, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Red wolves used to roam throughout the eastern United States, but now are found only in their North Carolina habitat.
Zoo officials have chosen two possible themes for the names: locations from Hyde County, North Carolina, or trees and plants from the wolves’ native region.
People can vote here on a survey, which will be available for several weeks as the pups continue to nurse in the zoo’s Red Wolf Woods habitat.
It will be several weeks before they will be on display and available for public viewing.