The Texas Department of Transportation is working with wildlife experts in Galveston to reduce the number of vehicles hitting wildlife and raise awareness about ghost wolves.
The rare species is a hybrid of the coyote and the critically endangered red wolf and are only found along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast. So after a few local researchers reached out to TxDOT, according to a press release, the agency began installing more signs to alert drivers to wildlife crossing roads.
In 2024, experts from the Gulf Coast Canine Project voiced concerns to the state transportation agency about ghost wolf mortality rates along FM 3005, the main road running along the coast, especially as development grows on Galveston Island.
TxDot’s Environmental Project Planner Brooke Bowman worked with Galveston County officials to collect and analyze coyote mortality data along that road over the past five years, the state agency said. TxDOT then placed 10 new wildlife crossing signs along the 19-mile road where mortality rates were the highest.
Because ghost wolves have DNA from red wolves — a species once believed to be extinct and now existing only through captive breeding recovery programs — some researchers say preserving the hybrid coyote-wolf and its DNA could help bring back red wolves to their historic range.
Although red wolves were once commonly found throughout the Southeast United States, by the 1960s red wolf populations were decimated due to loss of habitat. By then, only a remnant population of them existed along the gulf coast of Texas and Louisiana.
TxDOT said on its website that with the new crossing signs, it hopes to improve safety for drivers and animals, and raise awareness about the importance of the ghost wolves living in Galveston.