Mexico releases two pairs of endangered Mexican wolves

Mexico has released two pairs of endangered Mexican wolves (Canis lupus baileyi) into two areas in the state of Chihuahua. The wolf pairs, named “Manada del Arroyo” and “Manada del Gavilan,” came from the Ladder Ranch in New Mexico, which is operated by the Turner Endangered Species Fund. Mexico has had 19 releases of Mexican wolves since 2011, bringing the total wild wolf population there to 45. Fourteen litters have been born since 2014. The release is part of an effort by the Mexican Wolf Action Program for the Conservation of Species, a project led by Mexico’s National Commission of Natural Protected Areas, or CONAMP, and the Autonomous University of Querétaro.

“With these releases, CONANP reiterates its commitment to continue efforts to establish this subspecies that bears the name of our country,” said the agency in a news release statement. “Therefore, these releases represent an important advance in the recovery efforts of the Mexican gray wolf.”

In 2019, Mexico downlisted the wolf from “probably extinct in the wild” to “in danger of extinction.”

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