There are fewer than 300 Mexican gray wolves in the wild. They were hunted down to near extinction, and it has taken decades — and a lot of human help — for the population to recover in their native habitats in Arizona and New Mexico.
But it's in Missouri, at the Endangered Wolf Center in Eureka, where many of those wild wolves are born and raised for their first days of life. In May, six wolf pups — each barely 10 days old — made the journey by plane from their birthplace to New Mexico, where they were soon released into the wild.
"There was a theory that if we got rid of all of the apex predators there would be more opportunity to hunt big game like elk and deer," said Sarah Holaday, the center's director of animal care and conservation. "Now that we know a little bit more about how ecosystems function, we understand that's not actually accurate."
The years of hunting led to some species of wolves' being declared extinct in the wild. That was the case with the Mexican wolves. But in the 1980s, one pure Mexican wolf was discovered still alive. That wolf sired Anna, a Mexican wolf born in Missouri at the Endangered Wolf Center in 2001. Anna eventually birthed more than 40 pups, almost single-handedly reviving her species.
That effort continues with the center's wild fostering program, which places pups born at the center with families in the wild. Holiday accompanied the pups on the plane to New Mexico last month.
"We have moms at the center who are having their puppies," Holaday explained. "In the first two weeks of their life, we coordinate with [the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service] to locate wild dens. Then we get those puppies on a plane, we fly them out to those dens and slip them in with those wild moms. They have very strong maternal instincts, and generally, when [pups] end up in there, wild moms are very quick to accept those puppies into their own den, to raise them as their own and teach them wild wolf behaviors."
To hear the full conversation about fostering wild wolf pups with Sarah Holaday, and insight from the center's curator Susan Schmoker about the tricky timing involved in monitoring wolf breeding, listen to "St. Louis on the Air" on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube, or click the play button below.
"St. Louis on the Air" brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. The production intern is Darrious Varner. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
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