The Center for Biological Diversity urging that additional Mexican Wolves be released into Arizona and New Mexico to diversify the gene pool of the 58 free roaming Mexican Wolves that exist in the wild..........To that end, there are now 3 Wolves being acclimated to desert living in a holding pen in New Mexico awaiting the necessary Federal and State permits allowing release

Wolf from Brookfield Zoo sent to New Mexico to be prepared for release

Only 58 Mexican gray wolves in the wild in the Southwest; wildlife officials hope Ernesta will add to the population

|By Joseph Ruzich, The Chicago Tribune

Ernesta, a wolf from the Brookfield Zoo, has been shipped to a refuge in New Mexico and may be released into the wild. There are only 58 Mexican gray wolves living in the wild in New Mexico and Arizona. (Jim Schulz, Chicago Zoological Society)
 

She may have not been born free, but Ernesta, a 4-year-old Mexican gray wolf from Brookfield Zoo, might be able to live out the rest of her life roaming the wilds of New Mexico.

Ernesta was transferred from the west suburban zoo to the Sevilleta Wolf Management Facility near Socorro, N.M., on Oct. 27 and is now attending "wolf boot camp" with two other male wolves that arrived when she did. The goal is to prepare them for release into the wild as part of an effort to increase the wolf population in the area.