¡Que vivan los lobos!

Conservationists are celebrating the historic translocation of two families of Mexican gray wolves in Durango, Mexico, almost 50 years after the last wolves were removed from the state to initiate the captive breeding program that saved the subspecies from extinction. Mexico has been releasing wolves in the states of Sonora and Chihuahua since 2011, but the Durango effort marks a major milestone in restoring wolves to a more southern part of their range. The wolves are in a pre-release pen and scheduled to be released into the wild in the coming weeks.

“Introducing these new wolf packs in Mexico is a sure sign that our partners to the south are dedicated to Mexican gray wolf recovery and our shared mission,” said Craig Miller, Defenders of Wildlife senior Southwest representative. “While we celebrate this moment today, we must remain vigilant on our side of the border and continue to be a stronghold for the Mexican gray wolf in the face of adversity.” 

“While we celebrate this release in Mexico, we can’t ignore the ongoing barriers to recovery in Arizona and New Mexico, especially the outdated Interstate 40 boundary,” said Claire Musser, executive director, Grand Canyon Wolf Recovery Project. “Agencies are supporting wolf restoration in one place while disregarding the science, and the wolves themselves, who have already demonstrated that the Grand Canyon ecoregion and northern New Mexico are critical to their future.”

Two wolf families from the U.S. were sent to Durango in March, including the Manada del Arroyo pack whose matriarch has been relocated to Mexico once before. Named “Llave” by U.S. schoolchildren, she was born in the U.S. in 2018, sent to Mexico in 2022, and moved freely back with her former mate, “Remus,” to southern New Mexico later that year. After Remus was killed in 2023, she was taken into captivity, paired with a wolf known as “Wonder,” and re-released into the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona in April 2024. The pair and their puppies were taken back into captivity in May 2025.

“We’re delighted that there will once again be Mexican gray wolves roaming the forests of Durango, and we’re particularly impressed that the agencies released two entire families of wolves together,” said Greta Anderson, deputy director of Western Watersheds Project. “This is how these highly-social animals should be released in the U.S. as well, both for the sake of the bonded individuals and to quickly improve the genetic diversity of the wild population.”

The second family of four wolves is composed of parents “Dave,” “Kali," and their two children, all of whom were born in captivity in the U.S. Dave and Kali were both born in 2019, Dave at Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge and Kali at the Endangered Wolf Center, and were introduced to one another in 2023.

“We’re thrilled for Dave, Kali, and their pups to experience the wild and get to live a life of freedom. Imagine how exciting it must be to see an open expanse of land with no fences in sight,” said Regan Downey, director of education and advocacy at the Wolf Conservation Center. “There are approximately 340 wolves waiting in facilities like ours around the U.S. and Mexico who deserve the same fate, and we’ll continue to advocate for their releases as well.”

“This is a great step in the restoration and recovery of the iconic and imperiled lobo,” said Chris Smith, wildlife program director for WildEarth Guardians. “Releasing bonded families of lobos is the most sensible way to bolster the population, whether in Mexico or the U.S. I hope to see similar releases in northern New Mexico, where wolves once roamed, in the not-too-distant future.”

“Llave and her family deserve their freedom, which was unjustly taken away from them by outdated livestock-first policies that impede recovery in the United States,” said Michelle Lute, PhD in wolf conservation and executive director of Wildlife for All. “Mexico’s leadership in restoring wolves as intact families shows what’s possible when science and coexistence guide policy. If the U.S. is equally serious about recovery, we must embrace policies that allow Mexican gray wolves to reclaim more of their historic range.”

“We are celebrating that these two wolf families are getting their freedom in a place where wild lobos have been absent for too long,” said Mary Katherine Ray, Wildlife Chair for the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club. “We applaud Mexico for releasing two complete and bonded wolf packs and continue to urge that the US Fish and Wildlife Service do the same north of the border where so much habitat remains empty without wolves.”

“The return of lobos to their historical range in Durango, Mexico marks an exciting milestone for Mexican gray wolves,” said Sally Paez, staff attorney for New Mexico Wild. “We commend the wildlife managers who are bringing this keystone species back to its natural habitat and the local communities who are working on coexistence and conservation efforts.”  

“Every wolf stepping from captivity into the wild deserves to be celebrated,” said Michael Robinson, a senior conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s great to see reintroduction into wolfless habitats and specifically through releases of well-bonded family packs. I wish many exhilarating romps for these newly freed lobos. And I wish for the U.S. agencies to be inspired by the example from south of our border and allow wolves to wander the Grand Canyon and southern Rockies once again. We need truly connected landscapes that let wolves move safely across borders, beyond highways, and through corridors that support their natural dispersal.”