Good morning all,
Yes I know... it's been a few months. But I am so happy to back in the writing seat. Typing away everyday (no matter what) to bring some new works to life. This time away to take care of my family has been good for one thing though- there are a ton of new stories and characters I can't wait to share with you.
As I work
on the next books to my series The Were Chronicles I have learned more and more
about wolves and the problems we face as they are nearly extinct.
Gray Mason
the character in book four of The Were Chronicles and the main character in the
next installation is a red wolf breed. While doing research on the origin,
diet, behavior, and traits of these wolves I have across several great articles
trying to help this almost wiped out species.
This month
I thought I would share a little about the animal that I have come to love so
much.
Information obtained by several
different internet sites:
The Red Wolf (Canis rufus) is
neither as glamorous nor as well known as its cousins, the Grey Wolf (Canis
lupus) or the Coyote (C. latrans). Red
Wolves are only one of two species of wolves in the world. The other species is
the larger Gray Wolf.
They might not be a big or famous
but I still think they are great. They live in smaller Packs usually about 5-8
wolves. But I add more to the Packs. It is a fiction book, lol!
An adult
red wolf weighs between 50-80 pounds and is about 4 feet long from the tip of
its tail to its nose. The red wolf is a smaller and a more slender cousin of
the gray wolf. It is gray-black, with a reddish cast that gives it the color
for which it is named.
That’s about the same size as my
Labrador retrievers I have at home. What do you think… maybe I could add a wolf
to my own Pack? We’ll have to talk it over with the babies Taz, Belle, and
Scrappy. They might not like that idea!
Almost
hunted to the brink of extinction, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rounded
up fewer than 20 pure red wolves to be bred in captivity in 1980. As of 2007, approximately
207 captive red wolves reside at 38 captive breeding facilities across the
United States. Thanks to these programs, more than 100 red wolves currently
live in the wild.
Sadly we are celebrating a wolf
breed having a hundred in the wild.
Historically,
red wolves ranged throughout the southeastern U.S. from Pennsylvania to Florida
and as far west as Texas.
Yep! Texas!!!
Best place
to see or hear the Red Wolf in the wilds is the Alligator River National
Wildlife Refuge on the Coast of North Carolina.
Will have to plan a trip!
I came upon
the red wolves by doing research for the books. Because the books mean so much
to me I have become more aware of the real wild wolves. They might not be the
shifters we read about but they are still animals we should care about.
I want to thank
you for giving me the time to share what I have found out. If you would like to
help with donations, education, or to volunteer there are several different
organizations that are trying to save our wildlife. Here are a few that I have
researched.
The
defenders:
The Red
Wolf Sanctuary
I look
forward to sharing the red wolves and other shifters of The Were Chronicles
with you soon.
Crissy
Smith
Romance on the ‘WILD’ side…