The Mexican Wolf Interagency Field Team (IFT) is observing from a distance the potential denning behavior of Mexican wolf packs in the wild looking for a cross-fostering opportunity. Cross-fostering is a technique to move very young pups from one litter into a different, similar-age wild litter with the hope that the receiving pack will raise them as their own. Cross-fostering is undertaken to introduce genetically desirable pups into the litter of an experienced female and wild-proven pack.
Last year, two pups were successfully cross-fostered from a wild, but inexperienced female into the den of the proven Dark Canyon pack in New Mexico – a first for the Mexican wolf recovery program. A key to cross-fostering is timing. Donor pups and the litter of a receiving female must be whelped within days of each other. This year, that requires close coordination between captive rearing facilities in the binational Species Survival Plan rearing facilities and packs in the wild.
The IFT will be looking for opportunities to cross-foster wolf pups in the Apache National Forest between now and May 30. In particular the IFT will be trying to cross-foster wolves into the Bluestem and Maverick packs due to the packs’ proven ability to successfully rear pups.
The 2014 Mexican wolf population survey results announced in February showed a minimum of 109 in the wild, up from 83 the previous year.
The reintroduction is collaborative effort of the Service, Arizona Game and Fish Department, White Mountain Apache Tribe, USDA Forest Service, USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service – Wildlife Services, and several participating counties in Arizona.