Emma Miller of Elsberry was part of a history-making event when the Endangered Wolf Center flew two just-born critically endangered Mexican wolf pups to New Mexico to be cross-fostered by a wild pack on Saturday, April 23.
This collaborative effort between the Endangered Wold Center staff and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services represents the first time pups born in captivity have been “adopted out” in this way.
This technique of inserting captive born pups into wild dens has never been tried with Mexican Wolves. With fewer than 100 individuals left in the wild, these two pups born April 15, represent a vital new component of the recovery effort.
The two pups flew to New Mexico under the care of Regina Mossotti, Director of Animal Care and Conservation at the Endangered Wolf Center and Animal Keeper Miller.
“Our staff is the best in the field and they did an excellent job of making sure these pups were warm, sage and healthy every step on their way into the wild,” said Virginia Busch, Executive Director f the Endangered Wolf Center.
Cross-fostering is a technique where wild puppies from one litter are placed with another litter. The wolf mother will adopt the additions as her own. Placing pups from captivity into a wild litter helps increase genetic diversity. It is also a wonderful way to have wild parents “with an established territory and experience” raise and teach the pups how to survive.
Extreme terrain and logistics make it very challenging and timing has to be just right. Wild and captive litters have to be born within a few days of each other, and generally the transfer from captivity to the wild has to over before the pups are 10 days old. This means the wild den location needs to be known, a flight needs to be scheduled, perfect weather conditions need to exist and many other logistics need to be coordinated. All of these factors make the successful efforts of the Endangered Wolf Center and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services all the more remarkable.
Mexican wolves are the smallest, southernmost and most genetically distinct subspecies of gray wolf. At one point, Mexican wolves numbered only five in the wild. When those five were captured and brought into managed breeding facilities, the Mexican wolf was declared extinct in the wild in 1980. The first release of Mexican wolves back in the wild took place in March 1998, with nine of the 11 wolves released coming from the Endangered Wolf Center. The 2015 survey of Mexican wolves counted 97.
The Endangered Wolf Center was founded in 1971 by Dr. Marlin Perkins, longtime host of TV’s “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom” and former director of the Saint Louis Zoo, and his wife Carol. It is located on the grounds of Washington University’s Tyson Research Center in Eureka, about 20 miles southwest of St. Louis.
Emma Miller is a graduate of Elsberry High School and the University of Missouri-Columbia. She is the daughter of Stan and Lesa Miller and the granddaughter of Ruby Budd, all of Elsberry.