Six Mexican Wolf Cross-Fosters Hit Major Milestone


Mexican wolf pups about to be cross-fostered, shown in photo from 2020.
PHOENIX ? The Mexican Wolf Recovery Program reached a major milestone on April 1 when six cross-fostered Mexican wolves matured to breeding age in the wild. In doing so, the six wolves are now able to be counted as contributing to the genetic recovery of the subspecies.
This achievement brings the total number of cross-fosters surviving in the wild in Arizona and New Mexico to 13 and highlights the continuing success of Mexican wolf recovery efforts by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, and other conservation partners.
Cross-fostering is an innovative technique used by the Mexican Wolf Interagency Field Team to increase genetic diversity in Mexican wolf populations in the wild. Wolf pups are born in captivity at one of a number of different accredited breeding facilities across the country. When the pups are 14 days old or younger, they are placed into a den of wild Mexican wolves with pups of the same age. The surrogate wild wolf parents raise the new genetically diverse pups as if they were a part of the original litter. Read more