New pair of red wolves arrive at Miller Park Zoo
MPZ holding public vote for female wolf name

[December 27, 2014]  BLOOMINGTON – Two new Red Wolves, a male and female, are settling into their new home at Miller Park Zoo.

“Elohi” (Cherokee for “of the earth”), the two-and-a-half-year-old male, came from Chehaw Wild Animal Park in Albany, Georgia. The female arrived from Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma, Washington.

The female has yet to be named, so the Miller Park Zoo is giving the community the opportunity to vote for their favorite name on the Miller Park Zoo’s Facebook page. The naming options are listed below.

• Kawoni — Cherokee for Flower Moon (April), which is her birth month
• Tacoma — For her birthplace of Tacoma, Washington
• Waya — Cherokee for wolf

In hopes to bolster the numbers of the endangered species, the Miller Park Zoo staff will make sure everything is ready for the early 2015 breeding season. Miller Park Zoo had past success with increasing the population of the Red Wolf. The last Red Wolf, "Kai," left the Zoo in September to go to the Niabi Zoo near the Quad Cities. Kai arrived at the Miller Park Zoo in 2009 and gave birth to three litters in 2010, 2011 and 2012. In 2012, two of Kai's pups were released into the wild in North Carolina, which is the only wild location where Red Wolves are found today. All the moves were recommendations from the Red Wolf Species Survival Plan.

The Red Wolf is one of the world's most endangered Canids. Once common throughout the Eastern and South Central United States, Red Wolf populations were decimated by the early part of the 20th Century as a result of intensive predator control programs and the degradation and alteration of the species' habitat. The Red Wolf was designated an endangered species in 1967, and shortly thereafter the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service initiated efforts to conserve the species. Today, more than 100 Red Wolves roam their native habitats in eastern North Carolina, and nearly 200 Red Wolves are maintained in captive breeding facilities like the Miller Park Zoo throughout the United States.

[Miller Park Zoo]