A pile of wolf puppies might help boost a critically endangered species.
The Sedgwick County Zoo sent a couple of Mexican wolf pups to Arizona to boost the population size and increase the genetic diversity in that species. The Zoo said there are fewer than 150 of those wolves left in the wild.
Zookeepers and other workers took the Zoo wolf pups to a den in Arizona and put them in a “puppy pile” with other young wolf pups to cover them with each others’ scent, so the wild mother wolf will care for them.
Sedgwick County Zoo veterinarian, Doctor Heather Arens, said the results of the cross-fostering efforts are “astounding.”
“I care for animals in the Zoo every day, but this is the first time I’ve been able to directly fulfill my dream to save animals in the wild,” Arens said. “Five- year-old Heather would be proud – we’re really making an impact.”
You can read the full release from the Zoo below:
WICHITA, KAN. – Animal care experts from the Sedgwick County Zoo delivered two critically endangered
Mexican wolf pups to Arizona to be cross-fostered by a wild pack last month.Cross-fostering is a technique in which wolf pups from one litter are placed with another litter in hopes
that the wolf mother will adopt the new pups as her own. Placing pups from human care into a wild
litter not only helps increase the population size in the wild but also helps increase genetic diversity in a
critically endangered species.“This is a unique opportunity for pups born in our zoo to be raised in the wild by experienced parents,”
says Nancy Smith, senior keeper at Sedgwick County Zoo.Cross-fostering is a relatively new technique for the Mexican Wolf Recovery Program. With fewer than
150 individuals remaining in the wild, the two pups born at SCZ represent vital new genetics that will
help a critically endangered population.In order for cross-fostering to be successful, pups from both litters must be born within a few days of
one another, and the transfer must be completed before the pups are two weeks old.
“The stars have to align perfectly in order to make this work,” says Dr. Heather Arens, Sedgwick County
Zoo veterinarian.In the early morning hours of Monday, May 6, Arens, Smith, SCZ keepers, and Regina Mossotti of the
Endangered Wolf Center ventured into the Mexican wolf habitat at the Zoo to collect the pups from the
den. Two pups – a male and a female – were chosen to make the journey to Arizona. Two planes, a car,
another plane, and a very bumpy 4×4 ride later … they arrived at base camp. There, they joined a team
of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials, working together to locate the den and retrieve the five wild
pups. The wild pups were united with the Zoo pups and examined and introduced to one another.
The team wore pre-treated, unscented clothing and bared no skin so as not to leave behind a human
scent. The pups were all put into a “puppy pile” where they were covered with each other’s scent in
order for the wild mother to care for her new foster pups.“The results of the cross-fostering effort are astounding,” says Dr. Arens. “I care for animals in the Zoo
every day, but this is the first time I’ve been able to directly fulfill my dream to save animals in the wild.
Five- year-old Heather would be proud – we’re really making an impact.”Two pups from the litter remain at SCZ with parents Angus and Nova. They are now roughly seven
weeks old and thriving. Zoo visitors can see them at the North American Boardwalk.
Mexican wolves are critically endangered and native to the southwestern United States and Mexico. Once
numbering in the hundreds of thousands, extermination programs and habitat loss have led to dramatic decline. In
the late 1970s, the last seven remaining wild Mexican wolves were brought into human care in an effort to save
the species. In 1998, the first Mexican wolves were released back into the wild in Arizona and New Mexico and
have grown into a population of 131 Mexican wolves today. Mexico began reestablishing a population of wolves in
2011, where there are approximately 20-30 wild individuals today.
