A federal plan to shrink the territory of the only remaining wild red wolves is set to be finalized next month. Now, conservationists have told a judge that the plan would hasten the animal's extinction.
The lawsuit by conservationists argues that the federal government has for years neglected the wolves. They say this negligence has allowed the wolf population to decline to its most precarious position since the species was reintroduced to the wild in the 1980s.
An estimated 35 red wolves remain, all in eastern North Carolina.
Lawyers for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service argue that new rules for the red wolf program mean that the conservationists' current arguments are moot. The federal lawyers say a new lawsuit would need to be filed to halt those plans.