Jackson Free Press

Wolves are highly endangered animals. Humans have nearly eradicated them. Historically, we've had little regard for their lives.

One of the most endangered is the red wolf, which once roamed the Southeast from the Gulf Coast to Texas. It was declared extinct in the wild in 1980.

Sunset, one of two red wolves at the Jackson Zoo, has died. She had to be euthanized Friday, June 22 after treatment for bladder cancer and kidney disease yielded no results. Sunset had been undergoing treatment for a month when blood appeared in her urine and she stopped eating. After her death, vets found that her kidneys had begun to shut down.

Sunset came to the Jackson Zoo in 2002 for breeding purposes, but a bacterial infection caused her to lose a leg. Sunset never had any cubs with the male wolf that still lives at the Zoo.

"Most people were sad to see her go," Jackson Zoo Director Beth Poff said regarding zoo visitors' reactions to Sunset's death. Poff added that her decline was too great and the zoo had no other choice.