The Nate-ure Report: New Life at the El Paso Zoo

EL PASO, Texas - We’re all feeling a sense of new life this summer, and the same can be said at the El Paso zoo!

Since re-opening to the public in February, the zoo has introduced a number of new inhabitants to the public including a pair of Mexican Grey Wolf pups.

When the El Paso Zoo received five wolves from the Phoenix Zoo during the pandemic, two of the new. pack bred a litter of six baby pups!

“That was the whole purpose of the Chihuahuan Desert was to expand our pack," says zookeeper Anthony Stenger of the wolves' habitat exhibit at the Zoo. "But also to provide a breeding situation for our wolves as well since we do have the space for it now.”

But of the six pups born, only two remain at the zoo. As part of a foster program run through United States Fish and Wildlife Services, four of the pups were placed in the wild to help rehabilitate the natural population.

“When the pups are born it’s a 7-14 day period where the pups can be introduced to a wild pack," adds Stenger.

"But of course the wild pack has to have a litter of puppies as well. We're just not gonna put them with a random pack. So, we dispersed them between three different packs between Arizona and New Mexico.”

The Zoo’s aviary has also seen offspring within their exotic Inca Turns, a bird species indigenous to South America.

“They are a shorebird which means they're going to be living along the gulf coast so they’re going to be living along the coast of Chile. And they are going to be divers as well as skimmers, so they’ll be able to catch fish that come up to the surface, grab, and fly on their merry way.”

The aviary is open to the public at the zoo, with birds like the Inca Turns flying overhead.

Watch the attached clip for the latest from "The Nate-ure Report" with ABC-7's Nate Ryan.