Hello Everyone, We are happy to announce that Zana, our alpha Mexican gray wolf, gave birth to a litter of five puppies on April 22. As part of CZS’s partnership with U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s reintroduction program for the species, we once again participated in a cross-fostering effort. On May 3, CZS staff accompanied a male and a female puppy to New Mexico, where they were introduced to the San Mateo wild wolf pack, which recently had a litter of eight puppies. The following day, two of the wild-born puppies were brought back to Brookfield Zoo and successfully placed in the den with Zana and the other three puppies. Staff is pleased to report that Zana has been observed grooming the puppies. This is the first time in the Mexican gray wolf recovery program’s history that puppies from a zoo and the wild were cross-fostered. (You may recall that last year, two puppies born at Brookfield Zoo were successfully introduced to a wild pack in Arizona, but no puppies from the wild pack were brought back to Brookfield.) This cross-foster effort provides the opportunity to improve the genetics of the Mexican wolf population in the wild and to meet demographic and genetic needs of the zoo population as well.
