Log in

Born to be Wild

Scottsdale’s Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center celebrates birth of 2 ‘miracle pups’

Posted 6/2/22

The population of  Arizona’s Mexican Gray Wolf, North America’s smallest and most endangered wolf has grown, thanks to collaborative efforts between Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center, Arizona Game & Fish and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

You must be a member to read this story.

Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.


Already have an account? Log in to continue.

Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here

Otherwise, follow the link below to join.

To Our Valued Readers –

Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.

For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.

Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.

Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.

Sincerely,
Charlene Bisson, Publisher, Independent Newsmedia

Please log in to continue

Log in
I am anchor
Born to be Wild

Scottsdale’s Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center celebrates birth of 2 ‘miracle pups’

Posted

The population of  Arizona’s Mexican Gray Wolf, North America’s smallest and most endangered wolf has grown, thanks to collaborative efforts between Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center, Arizona Game & Fish and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

The increase from 84 to 86 Mexican Gray Wolves, living in Arizona’s wild, comes from the recent birth of two pups through a cross-foster process at Southwest Wildlife, according to a press release.

The pups, born April 30 at Southwest Wildlife outside of Scottsdale, were flown six days later by Arizona Fish and Game and released into the wild into the same den.

“This represents a new level of our participation in the species survival program and there were so many firsts in this story. Not only did we have unprecedented births of two of the most endangered wolves in North America, but then following the births we were able to go in under the cover of darkness several days later, removed the pups and got them on an Arizona Fish and Game plane and take them to near native dens where awaiting biologists snuck into the den and placed the pups. Three agencies were working as a collaborative team to make this happen and it was quite extraordinary,” said Dr. Leo Egar, director of Animal Health, Welfare and Survival at Southwest Wildlife.

What makes these births extraordinary is that  the female wolf, Melly, may be the oldest Mexican Gray Wolf to give birth, according to the release, noting at the pairing of two wolves, Melly and Moonlight, was discussed at the 2021 Annual Mexican Wolf Species Survival Plan meeting.

The pair  needed a home and Southwest Wildlife agreed to take them since both wolves were intact. Due to the age of the animals and them having previous breeding situations with no reproduction, the chances for new pups were highly unlikely.

However, by using a cross-fostering process, Melly and Moonlight produced two pups, which is a first for Southwest Wildlife, noted the release.

“We are truly honored to have participated in the conservation of this critically endangered species. As an ethical wildlife education and rehabilitation facility, Southwest Wildlife is dedicated to providing the opportunity for wildlife to live in the wild where they belong, and we will only breed as part of structured species survival plan. Providing wolf pups with the chance to grow up wild and eventually provide their genes to better the wild population as a whole by cross-fostering could improve the quality of life of an endangered species and we are proud to have been part of that process,” said Egar.

Linda Searles officially founded Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center in 1994. Since then, SWCC has rehabilitated thousands of sick, injured, orphaned or displaced wild animals. More than 70 percent have been successfully released back into the wild. Trained staff and volunteers are on call to respond to any wild mammal emergency that may arise.

Visit SouthwestWildlfe.org or call 480-471-9109 for more information.