About 40 people gathered at Festival Park in Washington on Tuesday to show support for the red wolf recovery program.

The rally was organized through a partnership of the Wildlands Network, Endangered Species Coalition, Red Wolf Coalition and Pamlico Albemarle Wildlife Conservationists, to name a few of the organizations involved.

The red wolf recovery program began decades ago through the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, in an attempt to introduce red wolves bred in captivity into a designated five-county area in eastern North Carolina, including Beaufort, Dare, Hyde, Tyrrell and Washington counties.

Although conservationists hail the program as vital to preserving the red wolf, it has met opposition from landowners in the eastern part of the state who do not want the wolves on their private property.

In June 2015, the USFWS halted wolf reintroductions into the wild, although the wolves already there would remain. USFWS cited a need to assess the viability of the program, as well as explore the more recent hybridization of the wolves with coyotes.

USFWS is also considering halting the program altogether — a decision expected to be made this fall.

“We cannot give up on having wild wolves in eastern North Carolina,” Attila Nemecz, president of Pamlico Albemarle Wildlife Conservationists, said to the crowd on Tuesday. “I want you to raise your voices in support of the wolf.”

Nemecz said there are less than 40 red wolves left in the wild at this time.

Ron Sutherland, conservationist scientist with the Wildlands Network, encouraged the supporters to contact their legislators and ask for their support.

Sutherland said he believes the narrative of a “wildlife disaster” in eastern N.C. due to the wolves is false, and it would be more detrimental to lose the wolves.

“This is actually a wildlife paradise,” he said.

“The diverse composition of the recovery team reflects the Service’s commitment to ensure its actions are first, and foremost, grounded in sound science, while also addressing any identified shortcomings of its past recovery efforts, especially in terms of engaging landowners more effectively in recovery planning and implementation as needed,” USFWS stated in a release last year.

The partnering groups will hold another rally in Raleigh today.