AZA SAFE: Saving Animals From Extinction
In 1997, California Wolf Center joined the Species Survival Plan for Mexican wolves, a captive breeding program that aims to increase the genetic diversity of the critically endangered Mexican gray wolf for reintroduction to the wild.
The Mexican Wolf SSP began in 1981 with only 7 unrelated wolves. As of July 14th, 2023, the Mexican Wolf SSP is now the AZA SAFE Mexican Wolf. Today, the California Wolf Center is one of the largest breeding facilities out of the 60 participating institutions located throughout the United States and Mexico.
Mexican Wolf Conservation Program
Founded by California Wolf Center in 2006 with the goal of advancing human-wolf coexistence, our Mexican Wolf Conservation Program has grown so successfully that we are currently supporting every wild Mexican gray wolf pack in the United States.
As an extension of the AZA SAFE Mexican Wolf, we work with nonprofit partners and other agencies, including U.S. Fish and Wildlife and Arizona and New Mexico Departments of Fish and Game, to support Mexican gray wolf recovery through cross-fostering, range riders, and field volunteers. We provide information and financial support for techniques that ranchers can use to reduce wolf-livestock conflict and steward the wild spaces where Mexican gray wolves reside.
California Wolf Center is one of only two nonprofit organizations working with the Southwest community sharing the landscape with the returning wolf population. All Mexican gray wolves residing at California Wolf Center are candidates to be released into the wild through a reintroduction program managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Working Circle
The Working Circle program was developed in 2016 by CWC and ranchers in Northern California to create and test strategies to reduce conflict between wolves and livestock. In 2021, Working Circle became their own nonprofit entity and continues to expand the scale of their successful approach to other areas.
By working with ranchers and producers, agencies, and other conservation groups in the Southwest, we can reduce wolf-livestock conflict and support progressive livestock management. Through these efforts, wolves returning to the wild will have a safer environment to call home.