Two Mexican gray wolf puppies born at Brookfield Zoo outside Chicago are starting new lives in the wilds of Arizona as part of a project to save the animals.
In a news release, the zoo says the puppies were born at the zoo last month and flown to Arizona. They were then placed in a den of wild wolves where puppies had recently been born -- something that increases the chances the puppies will be accepted by the wild wolves.
Brookfield Zoo officials say there are only 97 of these wolves in the wild and it is important to add new wolves to improve the genetic diversity of the wild wolf population. The effort marks the second time wolves from the zoo have been released to a wild wolf den.
