2018 plan for Mexican wolves calls for fostering of pups

A female Mexican gray wolf looks to avoid being captured for its annual vaccinations and medical checkup at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in central New Mexico. Federal wildlife officials have a plan for fostering as many as a dozen captive Mexican gray wolf pups with packs in the wild in Arizona and New Mexico in 2018

Associated Press file

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A female Mexican gray wolf looks to avoid being captured for its annual vaccinations and medical checkup at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in central New Mexico. Federal wildlife officials have a plan for fostering as many as a dozen captive Mexican gray wolf pups with packs in the wild in Arizona and New Mexico in 2018

Associated Press file

ALBUQUERQUE – Federal wildlife officials have a plan for fostering as many as a dozen captive Mexican gray wolf pups with packs in the wild in Arizona and New Mexico in 2018.

The goal of the proposal unveiled this week by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is to boost genetic diversity among the endangered species over the next year.

Aside from fostering, managers want to remove a female wolf from a pack in Arizona to prevent it from mating with a sibling.

During a temporary stint in captivity, the wolf either would be artificially inseminated or allowed to mate with another captive wolf before being released back into the wild.

Environmentalists are calling for the release of more captive wolves.

The public has until Dec. 26 to comment on the proposal.