Poster Wolf Back in Wild With Mate, Cubs
	From the 2000

Tuesday, July 18, 2000
By Tania Soussan
Journal Staff Writer
    Brunhilda, the poster wolf for efforts to return endangered Mexican gray lobos to the Southwest, is back in the wild.
    She and her mate, along with their six offspring, were released near Bear Wallow Wilderness in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest of Arizona late last week.
    The wolves, now known as the Francisco Pack, were moved from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's captive management facility at Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge south of Albuquerque.
    They were placed in a temporary, soft-mesh holding pen in Arizona but "one of the pups chewed its way out almost immediately," said Fish and Wildlife spokesman Tom Bauer.
    To keep the family together, the recovery team staff in the field released the rest of the wolves.
    Brunhilda — nicknamed for a princess of Norse mythology because of her huge size as a pup — was photographed in the early days of the wolf reintroduction program. That image with her alert face and solid body framed against the winter snow in Arizona has been used often in newspapers.
    She was first released as a yearling in March 1998 along with her parents. However, Brunhilda ventured outside the boundaries of the recovery area and started hanging around Alpine, Ariz. She was recaptured in May 1998 and returned to Sevilleta.
    There, biologist Colleen Buchanan allowed Brunhilda, known officially as No. 511, to choose her own mate by placing her in a pen with three brothers. She chose male No. 509.
    "They've produced two healthy litters and are a very strong pair," Buchanan said.
    The wolves were released with their offspring: a male and a female yearling born last year and four pups born this spring.
    On Saturday, field staff observed all eight wolves near the release pen.
    "They're out and hanging out together," Bauer said.
    There are an estimated 19 reintroduced Mexican gray wolves in New Mexico and Arizona.

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