Ernesta, the Mexican wolf removed from captivity at Brookfield Zoo to be part of a recovery program in the wild, was found dead in western New Mexico, officials have announced.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service confirmed that Ernesta’s body was found Jan. 7 in the Gila Wilderness Area. The cause of death is under investigation.
Spokesman Jeff Humphrey said that while her death is disappointing, “her life demonstrates all of the work, trials and setbacks of trying to get new genetics into the wild population.”
Mexican wolves once heavily populated the Southwest but were wiped out in the mid-1970s. They were listed as endangered in 1976, and in the late ’70s a breeding program was started to save the animal from extinction.
Eleven Mexican wolves were reintroduced to U.S. land in 1998, and the recent 2014 count showed a minimum of 109 living in Arizona and New Mexico, including a minimum of 38 wild-born pups.
At least four of those pups were born to Ernesta during her short but adventurous life.
Born in captivity in 2008, she came to Brookfield Zoo in 2010. In 2012, she was chosen to be part of the Mexican Wolf Recovery Plan and moved to the Sevilleta Wolf Management Facility in New Mexico to be prepared for release.
A first attempt to release her and a mate into the wilds of Arizona was canceled because of an existing pack of wolves, and in 2013, Ernesta returned to Sevilleta.
In April 2014, a pregnant Ernesta and a new mate, dubbed “the Coronado Pack,” were released in Arizona but the wolves separated. Ernesta established a den and delivered six pups alone.
Because she was inexperienced and alone, field workers captured her and her newborn pups and transplanted two of the six to be fostered by another wolf — the first time cross-fostering was done in the wild, according to Humphrey. It proved successful.
Ernesta and her remaining four were returned to Sevilleta and re-introduced to her first mate, and in July 2014, the six were transported by mule into the Gila Wilderness Area in New Mexico and released.
Brookfield Zoo staff was saddened to hear of Ernesta’s death, said Joan Daniels, the zoo’s associate curator of mammals. But they are encouraged, she said, “because we know her offspring are in the wild.”
