Childhood passion leads to career at Red Wolf Center

COLUMBIA — Tales of Tasmanian tigers led Katerina Ramos down the rabbit hole to the Red Wolf Center at the Pocosin National Wildlife Refuge in Tyrrell County.

One could say it was puppy love.

Ramos is the red wolf educator and program outreach coordinator at the Red Wolf Center. The passion she exudes for endangered species is instantly contagious.

“I often get asked what has driven me to become so passionate about wildlife education, endangered species and wildlife advocacy. This stems from my experience in first learning about the Tasmanian tiger,” she said. “The Tasmanian tiger, or the Tasmanian wolf, is a species of marsupial that lived in New Zealand and Australia.”

Marsupials, one might remember from science class, are animals that usually are carried in their mother’s pouch when young.

“When I first learned about this species, I was absolutely in love with it. I loved their unique body shape, position in the food chain and how enigmatic they were,” Ramos added. “As a naive student, I looked up where I could possibly see a Tasmanian tiger in captivity. It wasn’t until I did a deeper dive into the Tasmanian tiger that I found out it had gone extinct in 1936, 60 years before I would even be born.”

The discovery broke her heart.

She continued, “It was this realization and heartbreak that led me down the rabbit hole of endangered species conservation and eventually stumbling upon the challenge of the red wolf’s recovery.”

When she began her journey at 16 years old, volunteering at a Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Pennsylvania, she didn’t realize her obsession with helping wildlife thrive would bring her to the tiny town of Columbia. It was there she became obsessed with contributing to help wildlife thrive through education and rehabilitation.

Zoology called.

After spending her final summer of high school working as an educator at the Lehigh Valley Zoo, Ramos earned her bachelor’s degree in zoology at Delaware Valley University, conducting research on the Southern flying squirrels and assisting in the invertebrate zoology labs.

“My introduction into the red wolf world happened the summer I received my bachelor’s degree. I was the summer red wolf intern at the Coastal North Carolina Wildlife Refuge Complex and fell in love with the history and management of red wolves,” she said. “After the internship, I began my master’s degree at Oklahoma State University in integrative biology.”

Ramos said her focus was predator-prey interactions, and she used a study system consisting of pond snails and crayfish to test her hypothesis.

While in grad school, she served the Zoology Graduate Student Society as vice president and completed her master’s in the fall of 2020.

“When the position with North Carolina Wildlife Federation became available, I jumped at the opportunity to be back in red wolf country and have been in the position ever since,” she noted.

Aside from her red wolf advocacy, Ramos is a strong supporter of the town of Columbia.

“I wouldn’t have wanted to be located anywhere else. Columbia is an overlooked town by many on their way to the Outer Banks,” Ramos said. “The community is thriving and has been one of my favorite places to work and live in. I have enjoyed providing educational opportunities for the public school students, the homeschool students and for the average person that sees the beautiful mural on the Red Wolf Center and decides to pop in.”

She added, “Other places I have worked have been in rural communities in Pennsylvania, Colorado and Oklahoma, however none of them have compared to the individuality of Columbia’s culture and charm.”

The initiative to increase the red wolf population through programs and education is one of Ramos’ primary goals.

“Through our partnerships with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Wildlife Refuge Association, National Wildlife Federation and private landowners, we’re working on the ground in Columbia,” Ramos noted. “The Red Wolf Center provides educational materials and programs on red wolves. It also houses a space to conduct regular health checks on red wolves and is home to a pair of captive red wolves that you can see in person and watch on our 24-hour live web streaming red wolf cameras.”

Currently, Ramos is furthering the initiative with a special program involving land owners.

“The Prey for the Pack program is open to private landowners in five northeastern North Carolina counties within the current eastern North Carolina red wolf population,” Ramos said. “Participants in the program will receive technical assistance and financial cost-share to help them implement habitat improvement projects on their property that benefit them and the red wolf.”

Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge encompasses 3 percent of the world’s habitat type, existing only on the East Coast of the United States.

“The area is special due to its ability to sequester carbon and support a diverse variety of wildlife. More specifically, our habitat supports the largest population, densest population and largest black bears in the entire world,” Ramos noted. “Not to mention being home to the most endangered canid in the entire world, the red wolf. I personally find Pocosin special because no matter how many times you go out onto one of the nine national wildlife refuges on the coast of North Carolina, you are never going to be able to predict what amazing thing you will see next.”

Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge is more than 100,000 acres in size in Washington, Hyde and Tyrrell counties.

“The sheer species diversity always leaves me in awe and in appreciation of what comes of protecting and preserving our wildlife and habitat,” Ramos said. “I continue to look forward to my next adventure in the Pocosin habitat for a never experienced out of this world wildlife encounter.”

The Red Wolf Center recently began its summer programming season. The center is open Wednesday through Saturday. The center holds educational programs three times a day Wednesday through Friday, with two programs on Saturday. The weekday programs are at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday’s programs are at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Beginning in June, Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge will have its weekly guided red wolf tours to learn about the red wolf population there.

In addition, Pocosin Lakes will start up its bear tours and weekly preschool programs to engage with wildlife enthusiasts.

“When I interned for the program, I had instantly fallen in love with the red wolf and wanted to be part of the wave to help battle misunderstandings and fear that is associated with the species,” Ramos said. “My entire goal for my career is to be the conservationist that helps a kid born 60 years from now be able to see a species that they have fallen in love with.”