Government wildlife agencies recently announced that the number of Mexican gray wolves in the wild grew by 45 animals last year.
Conservationists welcomed the news, but believe that wolf recovery has room for improvement.
Field surveys showed that the wolf population rose above 200 for the first time since they were reintroduced in 1998.
Since then, a number of animals have been killed or returned to captivity.
Others have vanished, and over time genetic diversity in the wolf population has dropped.
Conservationists say that the remaining wolves are basically related to each other, which could present problems in the future.
"I’m heartened that there are 241 wolves out there," said Michael Robinson, of the Center for Biological Diversity. "It makes them a lot less vulnerable to being wiped out by disease, or a huge forest fire, or an intensification of illegal shootings. But I’m worried for the long term for the Mexican wolf given how much genetic diversity has been lost and how little remains in this population."
He says biologists could change the way they introduce new animals to the wild and reevaluate the wolf recovery area.
