The most notable things being done to protect these wolves are the captive breeding program, used to build up a decent population size, and the NEP, or nonessential experimental population, in South Carolina’s Albemarle Peninsula. New locations are being looked into for more NEP’s, but nothing has been finalized yet. In 2015, a team of scientists, politicians, and landowners comprised a group whose main goal was to look into the best way to continue the restoration of the species; even still, there are only more of the same few ideas that come up time and time again. Right now, there are unfortunately still gaps in the program. The USDA Wildlife Services are no longer allowed to kill the wolves, for it is technically illegal to do so, but hunting and human violence still affects the surrounding ecosystem and therefore the wolves. Despite this minor fault, there is a lot of good coming from the actions being done. The captive population is constantly growing, and new protections are being placed upon the NEP to prevent human-caused deaths(U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service).