Just found out that the budget bill passed in March ordered the USFWS to determine whether the Red Wolf is a taxonomically valid species or not. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine was hired by the agency to conduct the taxonomic study, which began last month and continues until March 2019. You can learn more about the study and keep updated on it with the provided link.

Now a scientific review of Red Wolf taxonomy is not a bad thing - it is actually a very good thing, since science works by constantly reviewing and revising its theories as new data comes in. But there are two things about the Congressional order that seem a little suspicious:

1. The order limits this taxonomic study to the two most endangered wolves in North America: the Red Wolf and the Mexican Gray Wolf (Canis lupus baileyi); it does not include all North American wolves, despite the fact that other Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) subspecies are in great need of taxonomic review.
2. The scientific debate over Red Wolf taxonomy has lasted for decades and is not likely to conclude anytime soon, yet the team of scientists hired to carry out the order have only a few months to determine the taxonomic status of the Red Wolf.

So what do you think? Is this order to study Red Wolf taxonomy the result of genuine scientific interest, or is Congress just making another political attempt to delist the Red Wolf? In any case, we must make sure that Congress does not intervene with the research and/or try to use/twist its results to strip the Red Wolf of its ESA protections!