Albuquerque BioPark building new endangered wolf facility

People living next door to the Albuquerque botanic gardens might hear howling wolves in their neighborhood come winter.

The ABQ BioPark is increasing its capacity to care for and breed endangered Mexican gray wolves with a new behind-the-scenes facility near the botanic garden and adjacent to the bosque. The BioPark has been working on Mexican gray wolf conservation since 1976.

“We want to be champions of New Mexico conservation, and the wolf is a keystone species here. It’s iconic,” said BioPark Director Brandon Gibson.

Seven of the endangered wolves call the zoo home, and 79 wolf pups have been born at the BioPark. The last litter of wolf pups was born at the zoo in 2020. The BioPark has a main wolf exhibit and two back holding areas.

The five-acre area will have several layers of fencing and three foot cement dig barriers. The initial habitat fence is under construction, and the facility is slated to be finished in August, said Lynn Tupa, BioPark associate director.

The $3.3 million facility is being funded by $400,000 from Fish and Wildlife and money collected from a gross receipts tax, which was approved by voters in 2016. The amount collected through the city-based tax varies depending on Albuquerque’s economy. The BioPark anticipates collecting $22 million this fiscal year, Gibson said, but a few years ago it was $16 million.

The wolf facility will have five large pens that could be further divided into eight holding pens, potentially allowing the zoo to house four to eight breeding pairs. Captive breeding of the wolves is carefully coordinated with U.S. Fish and Wildlife and other zoos to ensure any wolf pups born have adequate space and can potentially be released into the wild.

Fish and Wildlife has a cross fostering program where pups born in captivity are introduced to a wild litter of pups in the experimental population area, which straddles central New Mexico and Arizona, to help grow the wild wolf population.

“They’re finding it’s more successful that way than introducing adults, because adults, it takes a skill to learn how to hunt and kill. They get the natural learning from the ground up,” Tupa said.

Logistically, it’s easier to move wolf pups from the Albuquerque BioPark to the experimental population area than from other breeding zoos like the Brookfield Zoo Chicago, Tupa said.

The new facility is away from the public, because even hearing human voices can taint a wolf’s ability to succeed in the wild, Tupa said.

The holding pens will also provide more space for the BioPark to care for injured wolves. The BioPark’s veterinary team has treated four wild wolves since December. The most recent was a yearling female wolf who had been trapped in a leghold. Ranchers sometimes leave leghold traps for coyotes that the endangered wolves can inadvertently be caught in, said the BioPark’s head veterinarian Dr. Carol Bradford. The wolf’s leg had to be amputated.

“Amputated wolves have done successfully in the wild. They hunt in a pack, so they have their friends and family helping them hunt, and they’ve even reproduced after amputation,” Bradford said.

Unlike animals who call the zoo home, wild animals have to be released quickly, and balancing the need for speedy treatment with medical care can be a challenge.

“We understand the biologists’ need and desire to get them out as soon as possible, so that their pack doesn’t move on, or so that they’re not too accustomed to people,” Bradford said.

The yearling wolf was brought to the zoo in mid-March and was back in the wild by March 25.

“I love taking care of BioPark animals, but to be part of conservation projects and to contribute to a critically endangered species and to help them survive, to me, that’s extremely fulfilling and rewarding,” Bradford said.