Overview
- A community monitor’s camera trap videos in the Campo Verde reserve led experts in July 2025 to confirm that a GPS-collar-free Mexican wolf had been born in the wild for the first time.
- This record validates self-sustaining wolf litters in Chihuahua since 2014, signaling stable wild populations for the first time in over fifty years.
- According to the 2024 binational census, the wild Mexican wolf population numbers at least 257 in the U.S. Southwest and between 45 and 50 in Mexico.
- The binational recovery program launched in 1997 has expanded from seven founder wolves to over 200 captive individuals and facilitated targeted releases into protected areas.
- Mexican authorities upgraded the wolf’s status to endangered under NOM-059, acknowledging improved population viability backed by habitat corridors and rancher compensation programs.