The San Francisco Zoo’s newest residents are four endangered Mexican gray wolves that moved into the Wolf Canyon habitat last week.

The four female siblings were brought to the zoo following the deaths of two old Mexican gray wolves who were transferred to San Francisco in 2016, according to zoo officials.

The new wolves were born at the California Wolf Center in 2018 and are part of the Association of Zoo and Aquarium’s Mexican Gray Wolf Species Survival Plan and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Mexican Wolf Recovery Program.

The goal is to increase the population in order to release healthy wolves into the Mexican Wolf Recovery Area in the Southwest.

The four siblings will be part of health studies and may be bread in the future, according to zoo officials.

One of the wolves was named “Betty White” to honor the actress for her support of zoos and “her great love of animals,” according to the zoo.

Kiley Russell writes primarily for Local News Matters on issues related to equity and the environment. A Bay Area native, he has lived most of his life in Oakland. He studied journalism at San Francisco State University, worked for the Associated Press and the former Contra Costa Times, among other outlets. He has covered everything from state legislatures, local governments, federal and state courts, crime, growth and development, political campaigns of various stripes, wildfires and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.