Conservation of the Mexican wolf, a unique subspecies of gray wolf, is a qualified success. Recall that by the 1970s organized killing of Mexican wolves had eliminated them from the United States and nearly eliminated them in Mexico. Given the consequent endangered status of the subspecies, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) developed a captive breeding program from seven unrelated founders. But only three of these would come to constitute 77% of the captive ancestry.
