The Mexican wolf and its reconquest of the Sierra Madre Occidental

Thirty years after the Mexican Government declared the Mexican Wolf or Gray Wolf (Canis lupus baileyi) as a species probably extinct in the wild, an interinstitutional effort in which Pronatura Noroeste participated made possible the historic birth, in the wild, of a litter of five healthy puppies in its territory in northwestern Mexico.

In 2013, Pronatura Noroeste assisted in the release of a couple of Mexican wolves, a 4-year-old female and a 6-year-old male, in the Sierra Madre Occidental. Since them, we have collaborated with the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas and other organizations, to monitor their adaptation to living in the wild and the connection they may have with other flag ship species included in our conservation projects, such as the American Black Bear and the Thick-billed Parrot.

Farmers considered wolves a great danger for their cattle, so extermination campaigns in Mexico and the United States and loss of their habitat have been the main causes for a severely damaged Mexican Wolf population.

However, after years of efforts to keep the wolves in captivity alive, and the implementation of wildlife reintroduction strategies, the 2014 birth of Mexican wolves in the wild offers new hopes to the survival of this species.