Tiny pups, big milestone: Arizona agency releases 5 Mexican gray wolves into wild dens

Five Mexican gray wolf pups born through captive-breeding programs were recently released into the wild by the Arizona Game and Fish Department. It was part of a nearly 20-year effort to restore the endangered Mexican wolf population in the Southwest.

The pups were released into the wild through a strategy known as “fostering.”

It’s when pups younger than 14 days old that were born in captivity are placed into wild wolf dens. The idea is that wild parents will raise the pups as their own, thus making the wild wolf population more genetically diverse.

How does this help Mexican gray wolf recovery efforts?

It’s a program that began in 2016, and before this year, 143 captive-born pups were introduced to almost 50 wild dens across Arizona and New Mexico, according to the department.

Jim deVos, the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s Mexican wolf coordinator, said this is a milestone worth celebrating.

“Genetics remain the biggest challenge to recovery, and fostering has proven to be effective in meeting this element,” deVos said in a press release. “Fostering has proven to be so successful that this year a total of 23 fosters have survived in the wild for two years, surpassing the Recovery Plan goal of 22 wolves that was to be achieved by 2030.”

Since teetering on the brink of extinction in the 1970s, the Mexican wolf population has long been struggling. However, the wild population has increased over the past decade, according to the department, which reports that 317 wolves were counted in midwinter 2025.

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