Endangered Mexican Grey Wolf Pups Shipped To Indiana After Mother Proves Unlucky

Film and TV has not always helped wolves to be the most popular of species. Regardless, the Mexican gray wolf species has a long and tragic history. After being largely eradicated in the United States, conservation efforts went into effect in the 1970s. The hope was that 100 individuals could be released into the wild by 2006, but over a half dozen years after that date, those population numbers have not been reached. On the bright side, recently two Mexican gray wolf pups were born to a mother and one day later they have been shipped to a zoo in Indiana in order to give them their best shot at survival.

Last week, two grey wolf cubs were born at the Wolf Conservation Center located in New York state. The wolves were bred at the center by two grey wolf parents, known simply as F749 and M804. The mother, F749, has not been the best of parents. Under her watch, 19 of her offspring have died. According to Lohud, last year, the mother birthed eight pups, all of which died. Because of these odds, the center had to make a tough decision concerning the welfare of the cubs. Last Thursday, the newborn pups were flown to Indiana, where they will reside at the Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville, Indiana, a city located on the Ohio River.

For several weeks, the zoo will bottle feed the youngsters before introducing them to two foster parents, who will hopefully be able to raise them into adulthood. This move does have some ramifications—the young wolves will have to be hand-raised, which means they will be unfit for release into the wild. However, if they can survive to adulthood, they can contribute to population growth and hopefully have babies, one day. Those babies can then be released into the wild and, with a little luck, the Mexican grey wolf will have a steady population, once more.

Jessica Rawden
Managing Editor

Jessica Rawden is Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. She’s been kicking out news stories since 2007 and joined the full-time staff in 2014. She oversees news content, hiring and training for the site, and her areas of expertise include theme parks, rom-coms, Hallmark (particularly Christmas movie season), reality TV, celebrity interviews and primetime. She loves a good animated movie. Jessica has a Masters in Library Science degree from Indiana University, and used to be found behind a reference desk most definitely not shushing people. She now uses those skills in researching and tracking down information in very different ways.