One of the red wolves at the Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington has died. The zoo said the wolf overheated and collapsed during a routine health exam and, after a daylong effort to save the wolf, he was euthanized.
"The staff and the veterinary team at the Miller Park Zoo and the Miller Park Zoological Society appreciate your support during this difficult time," the zoo said in a statement.
The exam was part of the process of sending the wolf to the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma, Washington, for breeding. The Miller Park Zoo will get a breeding female in return even after the death of this wolf.
"This will hopefully prove a successful match, allowing further contribution to the program and the existing red wolf population. The new female will not be visible on exhibit until she has completed a requisite quarantine period," said the zoo statement.
The wolf that died was one of two brothers born at Miller Park Zoo in 2018. The other still resides at the zoo that has been part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service breeding program of the endangered wolves for nearly three decades.
There are 245 red wolves in zoos across the country living as family groups and litter mates. The only place they now live in the wild is on a peninsula in eastern North Carolina. Their range used to be from Pennsylvania to Texas.
