WATCHFUL EYES (Original Painting) Oil on Canvas 36 x 48 Unframed by Susan Andreasen

Portrays red wolves, an extremely endangered species. The painting emphasizes their dwindling wild population and ongoing recovery efforts through captive breeding programs

It is an oil painting by Red Wolves. The wolves are gazing at man, waiting to pounce if man does not respond to his need for freedom and habitat. Unlike gray wolves with their piercing yellow eyes, Red Wolves have warm orange-red eyes that look like puppy dogs. Make no mistake about it, however, these are feral wolves and not domestic dogs. I put them in grass to accentuate their colors and texture and to show them in their natural environment. Red Wolves are an extremely endangered species.

There are fewer than thirty wild red wolves left, primarily in eastern North Carolina, with estimates around 18-31, while hundreds more 280-240 live in captive breeding programs across the U.S. as part of the recovery effort for this critically endangered canine. These numbers fluctuate but show slight increases, like eight pups born in 2025.   Approximately two hundred exist, and all are the descendants of a small pack of wolves captured on an island off of Louisiana. These four wolves are a mother and her three sons who were at the Brevard Zoo in Florida. Mother has since moved to another zoo.