Mexico City officials announced on Thursday, July 17, 2014 that a litter of Mexican gray wolves was found in June by a team of researchers. This discovery brings about hope to the community that the reportedly endangered species is slowly recovering.

According to Nature World News the wolves have been nearly wiped out of the Southwest area of the United States due to hunting and trappig them. In a reintroduction program in 1998, the first wolves were released into the wild, and today it appears that roughly 83 of those wolves live within the Arizona and New Mexico borders.

Mexico's National Commission for Natural Protected Areas said in a statement to Argyll Free Press that the sightings of the litters represent an incredibly important step towards the original recovery program, and that this knowledge is of incredible value to the community as a whole. These pups appear to be one of the first to have no contact with humans, while many other wolves are bred in captivity normally.