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In the late 80s and 1990 proposals to attempt another reintroduction in the Smokies began to circulate. The species under consideration, however, was more controversial and challenging to release than the River Otters and Peregrine Falcons which the Smokies had released previously.

In 1990 Red Wolves, a species native to the Southestern US was one of the most critically endangered species in the United States. In fact, by the 80s red wolves were believed to be extinct in the wild because efforts to save the species in the late 70s and 80s called for the capture of the entire wild population and placing them in captivity for the purpose of repopulating the Southeast. At the time of capture there were fewer than 30 animals in the wild, making the restoration one of special concern.

The Species Recovery Plan developed by the US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), called for these captive populations to be supplemented by at least 3 separate wild populations of Red Wolves in the Southeast in order to reach species stability. Chosen because of its large area and diverse prey base, the Smokies seemed like a great location for the release of these imperiled predators.

In January of 1991 a breeding pair was released into an acclimation pen located in the Cades Cove area where they gave birth to a litter. This family was the first released into the park. The group was tracked by radio collars to monitor their movement; feeding on prey species, interaction with livestock present in the cove, and contact with the slowly expanding coyote population.

This family was joined shortly by another, and eventually within a few years there were 2 family groups residing in the park, one in Cades Cove and the other near Tremont. Both gave birth to pups in the wild, the first birth of its kind in the program, but shortly after this joyful occasion several set backs occurred which would be a preview of things to come. 4 of the Cades Cove pups are suspected to have died of parvo-virus and one of the pups from the Tremont group and her mother are found dead with injuries sustained while in a conflict with either the Cades Cove pack or Coyotes. Wolves from the Tremont group were also traced to areas outside the park where they had been scavenging for food.

There were other releases and births, but none of the pups born in the wild were proven to have survived past their first year, and 26 of the 37 wolves released between 1992 and 1996 either died or were recaptured. By 1998 only 10 red wolves still remained in the Smokies, and of those only 4 were still free ranging. This was the year in which the USFWS in conjunction with the National Park Service announced a “joint decision to end the eight-year effort to restore a wild population of Red Wolves” to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The termination of the Red Wolf Program in the Smokies did not, however, put a stop to restorations at other sites in the Southeast. Although Red Wolves are still one of the most severely endangered canid species in the world, restoration efforts made by the FWS have been successful in breeding and releasing Red Wolves in Wildlife Refuges in the Southeastern US.