The Mexican wolf was reintroduced to the wild in the United States in 1998. In March of that year, conservationists released three packs into Arizona’s Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest and 11 wolves into New Mexico’s Blue Range Wilderness Area.
The reintroduction followed a severe population collapse. By 1980, only five known wild Mexican gray wolves remained, and those animals were captured under an agreement between the United States and Mexico. They became the foundation of a carefully managed captive-breeding programme that helped preserve the subspecies.
The Mexican wolf is the smallest and most genetically distinct subspecies of gray wolf in North America. Historically, it ranged through parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Mexico, but persecution, trapping, poisoning and habitat pressures drove it close to extinction. Its recovery programme uses captive breeding, releases, monitoring and genetic management.
The 1998 event is sometimes confused with later releases or population milestones. It marked the beginning of the modern wild reintroduction campaign, not the moment when the species first received legal protection or entered captive breeding.