Heritage Park Zoo Celebrates the Wolf
This week, Heritage Park Zoological Sanctuary is participating in #LoboWeek! The event, which runs from Sunday, March 26 through Saturday, April 1, is an annual effort to educate people about the importance of wolves on the landscape of the Southwest, and the efforts to successfully return them to their ancestral home in the wild. This March marks 19 years since eleven Mexican Gray Wolves were released into the wild in Arizona as part of a federal reintroduction program under the Endangered Species Act.
Missing from the landscape for 30+ years, returning the Mexican Gray Wolf to the wild was a significant milestone for the lobo and wildlife conservation efforts. According to records, more than a million wolves were killed in the U.S. between 1850 and 1900. They were deemed extinct in the wild by the 1970's, and only through managed breeding and reintroduction programs do they survive in the wild today. Still, even with slow and steady population increases, the Gray Wolf remains the most endangered wolf subspecies in the world.
All organizations that house these animals are part of the Species Survival Program, which helps to ensure their survival and re-integrate them back into the wild. And while HPZS does not participate in the breeding aspect of the program, we are a holding facility lucky enough to house two such animals, Imado and Catori. We're incredibly thankful to have this pair and to be a part of this important program. It provides us a unique opportunity to share this rare and endangered species with our community.
Be a part of #LoboWeek by sharing this tag on social media and spreading the word on these important efforts. This week also serves as a great time to come by the sanctuary and see these animals in person. It's a rare treat to have such access to them; we hope you'll come celebrate them with us!
For more information, visit HeritageParkZoo.org.