Last month, St. Louis Magazine caught up with the Endangered Wolf Center in Eureka to talk about its breeding and reintroduction missions. Now, the EWC has announced that it has flown six critically endangered Mexican wolf pups to Arizona to be cross-fostered by two wild wolf packs, placing the animals with a litter and hoping that the mother wolf will adopt the babies as her own. It has also brought back three male Mexican wolf pups to be fostered by wolves Vera and Mack at the EWC. The cross-placement increases populations and genetic diversity.
The news is special for a few reasons. For the first time ever, six pups born in captivity have been adopted by two different wild packs in two different states. Second, it’s the first time a cross-foster event involving three pups has happened at the EWC. Last, it’s the first time a fostered wolf has grown up to foster a pup himself, in this case, a foster pup who became the alpha male in the Prime Canyon Pack.
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The real reason we’re glad for the news: cute wolf pup pics.
