My name is Morgan Lewis, I'm one of the wildlife biologists and trappers for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Red Wolf Recovery Program. I am trying to reach out to all licensed trappers who listed coyotes as a species they trap within the Beaufort, Dare, Hyde, Tyrrell, and Washington County areas.
As trapping season comes into swing, I wanted to make sure you were aware of the Trapper Reimbursement Program, a collaboration with the North Carolina Wildlife Federation, that can reimburse private trappers up to $250 for certain canids captured within the 5 counties listed above. Review the Trapper Reimbursement Program outline for more details and the reimbursement dollar amounts for different types of canids.
Currently, all but 1 of the 20 known adult and subadult red wolves have an orange collar to identify them, but there is always the potential for unknown red wolf individuals to be out on the landscape. Additionally, there were 4 litters of red wolf pups within the 5 counties this year (2026) that are too small to be collared yet, so they are not currently marked as red wolves beyond an imbedded microchip. All sterilized coyotes are collared with a white or black collar.
To help with determining between red wolves and coyotes, use the Coyote vs. Red Wolf identification flyer as a quick reference guide for the average weight, height, and measurements of both species. Please keep in mind that red wolves pups born this past spring often overlap in size with adult coyotes in the fall/winter during trapping season and can be difficult to distinguish at times. Generally speaking, red wolf pups will have longer legs (taller), larger feet and larger heads than coyotes. If there is any doubt regarding what you’ve captured, please contact us. If you are interested in being provided with a loaner microchip reader free of charge to help identify if you capture a red wolf pup or adult, please contact us.
We've reached out to North Carolina's licensed trappers in the area, however, if you know of anyone else that might not be on that list who might find this information of interest and useful within these 5 counties, please feel free to share this information.
If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me or any of the other individuals with the program.
Thank you for your assistance!
Morgan Lewis
Wildlife Biologist
Red Wolf Recovery Program
Mobile: (252) 475-8350
Joe Madison
NC Program Manager/Wildlife Biologist
Red Wolf Recovery Program
Mobile: (252) 475-8259