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Arizona game officials are working with partners in northern Mexico to return more gray wolves into the wild, part of a decades-long effort to eventually remove the animals from the endangered species list.

Working with wolf experts in Mexico, Arizona game officials have just released four more gray wolves into the Mexican state of Durango, nestled among the Sierra Madre in north-central Sonora.

Jim DeVos, Mexican wolf coordinator for the Arizona Game and Fish Department, said the effort's been a long time in the making – and it's finally paying off.

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"We're talking about a 50-year program," he said. "The wolves are now being bred in over 60 institutions, both in the U.S. and Mexico."

Prompted by predation concerns among some locals, DeVos said, the program stalled in 2022. However, he added that thanks to high-level cooperation from Mexican game officials, the wolves are thriving in their native habitat. Releases will continue with the aim of removing the wolves from the Endangered Species Act.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service previously delisted gray wolves, but the decision was vacated by a district court. Some oppose the reintroduction of the animals because of the risk of mismanagement and livestock loss.

The wolves have overcome a number of hurdles in the restoration efforts, not the least of which has been increasing temperatures and inhospitable climes of the Sonoran desert, especially in southeastern Arizona, where many of the wolves were threatened by decades of historic drought.

"Those wolves were really having a hard time getting along," DeVos said. "So for their success and survival, we pulled them into captivity, got them fattened up and healthy again, and now they go into the wild/

DeVos said the wolves that were recently released in Durango are likely to join with previously released animals and join a pack as their numbers continue to grow through the restoration efforts.