S.C. House Majority Leader Rick Quinn, who lost his Republican primary in June, resigned his position Monday so a new leader can take office sooner.

An election for a new House majority leader will be held Oct. 5 at the next Republican Caucus meeting.

Quinn, who had represented an Irmo-centered district in the House since 1989, informed Speaker David Wilkins of his plan to resign a few months before his term ended.

He decided to resign early to give the new majority leader more time to prepare for the new legislative session in January.

Quinn lost his primary to political newcomer Nathan Ballentine, who received 51 percent of the vote.

• CHARLESTONRed wolf and pups released on Bull Island

A rare red wolf and two pups were allowed to go free Monday at Bull Island, a coastal preserve that has helped anchor federal efforts to save the species.

After weeks of delays caused by bad weather and the death of the pups’ mother, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service opened a cage on the island and allowed the animals to leave. The service expects the wolves to eventually walk out of the enclosure they have shared this year.

Red wolves have for 17 years been allowed to roam free on Bull Island near Charleston, where the adults teach survival skills to pups. When the pups mature, they are sent to the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina. There, the government is trying to re-establish a wild red wolf population.

At Bull Island this year, Fish and Wildlife Service officials kept the animals in a cage so the adults could mate. The pups were born last spring and were weaned before their mother died.

“The whole purpose of this is have the pups ... raised in a wild environment,” service biologist Sarah Dawsey said. “We still think it can be done. We think the father can take care of the pups.”

• Activists protest French plutonium shipment

About 20 environmental activists waved signs and banners along the Charleston waterfront Monday to protest what they believed was an overseas shipment of weapons-grade plutonium.

Officials confirmed the plutonium had left the United States aboard an armored ship escorted by a second ship, but would not say whether two freighters that left port under heavy security were the ones carrying a planned shipment of the material to a reactor in the south of France.

Once in France, the material is to be converted into nuclear fuel and returned next year for a test run in a commercial reactor. The U.S. Energy Department must ship the material overseas for conversion because there isn't a plant in the United States that can do it.

Officials want to build a facility at the Savannah River Site near Aiken but construction has been delayed. The facility is part of an agreement between the United States and Russia to dispose of 68 metric tons of plutonium.

Contributing: Sammy Fretwell, staff reports and The Associated Press.