On Saturday, the Curator of Animals at the Peoria Zoo, Kim Scott, will be travelling to the east coast to aid in semen collection from captive Mexican Gray Wolves. Kim will join 2 animal reproductive specialists in visiting 4 institutions in Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania. The trip, funded by the US Fish & Wildlife Service, will help meet the goal of collecting and banking semen from every Mexican Gray Wolf male held in captivity. With the advancements of artificial insemination in zoos, it is hoped that the semen will one day be used to increase the genetic health of the species both in captivity and the wild.
Last year the team traveled to the western United States and successfully collected semen from 21 wolves at 9 facilities.

Kim was chosen by the Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Program due to her vast experience with wolf restraint. She developed and practiced her techniques during her 15 years of employment at the Endangered Wolf Center. Kim is “excited to be a part of such an important component of the wolf recovery program”.

Mexican Gray Wolf
 Smallest subspecies of the gray wolf
 Known as “el lobo”
 Placed on Endangered Species List in 1976
 The most endangered wolf in the world
 Became extinct in US
 Reintroduction began in March 1998; in that summer the first Mexican gray wolf pup born in the wild in the US in over 50 years was observed.

For more information contact Kim Scott at 309-681-3524