Evansville zoo adds pair of endangered wolves
Associated Press November 14, 2012 11:12AM
Nagual, a male Mexican Gray Wolf, front and his female partner, check out their new habitat at Mesker Park Zoo & Botanic Gardens in Evansville, Ind., on Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2012 after arriving by plane from the USFWS Sevilleta Wolf Management Center at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, in Socorro, NM. The Mexican Gray. The wolves became endangered due to livestock practices and have been part of a large conservation project throughout the southwest and Mexico. Mesker Park Zoo plans to have the pair be foster parents for pups whose parents are unable to raise them in the wild as an effort to continue conservation efforts of the species and eventually hope they can breed the animals. (AP Photo/The Evansville Courier & Press, Erin McCracken)
Updated: November 14, 2012 11:08PM
EVANSVILLE — A pair of endangered Mexican gray wolves is now at Evansville’s zoo, where the staff hopes to breed the animals.
The adult male and female arrived Tuesday at Mesker Park Zoo after a flight from a federal wolf management center in New Mexico. Zoo officials say the Mexican gray wolf has become endangered because of livestock practices and shootings and that fewer than 300 are in captivity.
Mesker animal curator Susan Lindsey tells the Evansville Courier & Press∂that plans are for the two wolves to be foster parents for pups rescued from the wild as part of a conservation effort. The wolves had pups in 2010 and 2011 and the zoo hopes they’ll have more in Evansville.
