The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) released a female Mexican gray wolf named Asha with her mate, Arcadia, and their five pups onto the Ladder Ranch, which adjoins the Aldo Leopold Wilderness in the Gila National Forest in New Mexico.
The wolf family, named the Quartz Pack by USFWS, was released six weeks later than planned after public and organizational pressure, including 8,000 citizen emails and letters from 36 conservation groups.
“Asha should never have been punished with a year and a half in captivity for merely wandering north of I-40, but we’re grateful to the agencies for doing the right thing now and setting this family free,” said Greta Anderson, deputy director of Western Watersheds Project.
