Yuma was born at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. She was paired with Canek an elder male wolf from San Juan de Aragon zoo, after earlier candidates were rejected by her. Just last year, she had 3 lobitos, Yalik, Kanti, and Yoali. Yuma is a splendid mother.
Canek has since died. Yalik, kanti and Yoali are the first lobos born at the Coyotes Zoo.
Yuma died from pos operation complications on February 15th. The operation was a simple sterilization. Yuma was already 11 years old and all her offspring are alive and well at Los Coyotes. However Yuma´s death was reported in mexico city press and animal blogs that demanded to know what went wrong and if the sterlization was actually necessary. One writer in a mexico city newspaper wrote, "first all the wolves released in the wild in sonora are poisoned and now a breeding wolf has died at a zoo. Who is responsible ?" Andres de Luna, El Economista, Febuary 22, 2013,my translation. Dr. Juan Bernal, general director of the Mexico city zoos, stated to the press, that Yuma was treated according to the general procedures of the binational mexican wolf project. She was a mature animal that had already contributed to the gene pool and had recieved the best vetinary attention , according to Dr. Bernal. At least there is a part of the more educated section of mexican society that is concerned about what happens to the lobos. Yuma will be missed.
