PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Wildlife biologists are celebrating a huge milestone in the Southwest!

Arizona Game and Fish, alongside New Mexico and U.S. wildlife services, fostered the 100th Mexican wolf pup into the wild. The pup and two siblings were fostered from Living Desert Zoo & Gardens State Park in Carlsbad, New Mexico into a wild den in Arizona on April 25.

This marks the ninth year of Mexican wolf fostering in the nation. Fostering is a method used by the Mexican Wolf Interagency Field Team to increase genetic diversity in the wild Mexican wolf population.

Biologists carefully manage breeding to produce genetically diverse pups in the captive population. Within two weeks of being born, the captive pups are taken into the wild and mixed with wild pups that are around the same age.

Once all the animals are placed back into the wild den, the mother feeds and cares for both the wild and captive-born pups as if they’re her own. “With the help of her pack mates, the pups will be raised with the skills and knowledge needed for a life in the wild,” officials said in a statement.

At the end of 2023, officials say 257 Mexican wolves were put into the wild across Arizona and New Mexico, marking the eight consecutive year of population growth.

The Mexican wolf is listed as an endangered subspecies under the federal Endangered Species Act.

For more information on Mexican wolf recovery, visit azgfd.gov/wolf or fws.gov/program/conserving-mexican-wolf.

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The Arizona Cardinals did not play any primetime games in the 2023 season, being relegated to playing in the Sunday early window and late window of games every week.

Could that change in 2024?

Might Arizona play on Thursday Night Football or Sunday Night Football in the upcoming season or in a different non-traditional Sunday slot?

Fans of Arizona’s NFL team are eagerly awaiting the release of the 2024 NFL regular season schedule (or an early leak) to find out.

After all, it would provide a welcome change from the Cardinals schedule last year and give a wider audience a chance to see Kyler Murray, Marvin Harrison Jr., Trey McBride and company and the rest of a team that is potentially on the rise.

NFL schedule release 2024 tracker: Leaks, rumors, live updates, what we know for games

Arizona Cardinals among NFL teams that deserve more primetime games in 2024 NFL schedule

Interestingly, SB Nation recently published a story about three NFL teams who deserve more primetime games on the 2024 NFL schedule and the Cardinals were included among the three.

Joseph Acosta wrote: “Fighting for some shine in a loaded NFC West, the Cardinals spent the first quarter of 2023 looking like one of the worst teams of the NFL. However, after QB Kyler Murray returned, the Cardinals began to look like one of the more intriguing teams for the future. Again, it’s the offense that takes most of the shine here. Murray, TE Trey McBride, and rookie WR Marvin Harrison Jr. give fans something to look for when the Cardinals play. Murray plays really exciting football, and if Harrison Jr. can be the outside receiver we all think he can be, then the Cardinals should be extremely exciting. Defensively, the team is still slowly coming along, but safety Budda Baker is still a very fun player to watch. With Murray running around throwing passes to Harrison Jr., this will be one of the most fun teams to watch this year.”

We won’t argue with that.

More: Kyler Murray height joke backfires as social media comes to Arizona Cardinals QB’s defense

Who could the Arizona Cardinals play in prime time in 2024?

The Cardinals have some intriguing opponents on the 2024 schedule, with the Chicago Bears, Los Angeles Chargers, New York Jets, Detroit Lions and New England Patriots among the teams they will face at home and the Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings among Arizona’s opponents on the road.

Cardinals at Bills or Dolphins on Sunday Night Football? Bears or Lions vs. Cardinals on Thursday Night Football?

Is it really too much for Arizona fans to ask to have a primetime game on the 2024 NFL schedule this season?

NFL power rankings: Arizona Cardinals on the rise after 2024 NFL Draft

Reach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.

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TEMPE, AZ – Taking on rival ASU (26-24, 14-13) in a midweek showdown, No. 17 Arizona Basketball (30-17, 17-7) came away with the 5-3 win over the Sun Devils!

Fresh off of a sweep of Stanford from this past weekend, No. 17 Arizona Baseball was back in action on Tuesday night, taking on rival Arizona State for a non-conference showdown.

Getting the start on the bump for the Cats, Arizona turned to Bradon Zastrow in this one; however, it was truly a team effort in this one as the Wildcats used nine pitchers on the evening.

Luckily for us, it worked out for the best as Arizona surrendered just three earned runs despite giving up 11 hits. More impressively, the Wildcats struck out 10 Sun Devil batters and stranded eight ASU runners.

Offensively, the Wildcats did just enough to win this one as they plated five runs on 10 hits including three home runs. Led behind a solid offensive effort from Mason White, Brendan Summerhill, Andrew Cain, and TJ Adams, together the four went a combined 9-15 from the dish with five RBIs. 

This one took a little bit to get going, but boy did it provide some great moments. Tied 0-0 heading into the third inning, the Wildcats broke the scoreless drought as they exploded for three runs in the inning.

The inning started with TJ Adams homering to center when he turned on a 1-1 pitch to make it 1-0. After Brendan Summerhill drew a walk, Mason White would capitalize, turning on a 1-0 pitch that he sailed to right field to make it 3-0, Arizona. 

Leading comfortably, Arizona would get things going early in the next inning when Andrew Cain would lead off with a homer to right field to make it 4-0 Cats!

ASU would get one back in the fourth to cut Arizona’s lead to 4-1, but luckily, the Wildcats’ offensive barrage wouldn’t cease. Still leading heading into the sixth, the Wildcats would use a few timely hits that would ultimately set up Summerhill who would fly out to right field as he scored Cain from third to make it 5-1.

Unfortunately, ASU would score two more times, once in the eighth inning and again in the ninth, before Anthony “Tonko” Susac shut the door on the Devils for good as he picked up his second save of the season. Sophomore right-hander Casey Hintz would pick up the win in this one, pitching one-and-two-thirds innings as he improved to 3-1 on the season. 

With the win, the Wildcats improve to 30-17 (17-7) on the year and look to turn their focus towards Utah when they travel to Salt Lake City this weekend!

Don’t forget to follow us at @ZonaZealots on Twitter and like our fan page on Facebook for continued coverage of Arizona news, opinions, and recruiting updates!