This sort of thing happens in botany too. A somewhat similar case is that of
the St Helena redwood (extinct in the wild) and the St Helena ebony (down to
two specimens in the wild), of which hybrids are doing well

http://home1.swipnet.se/~w-17282/endemic/ebony.html
http://home1.swipnet.se/~w-17282/endemic/redwood.html

PvR

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to breed a "female" by first crossing with a closely related species
and then repeatedly backcrossing to the "male" clone.

Iris Cohen schreef
I understand similar efforts are underway to preserve a species of bird of
which there is only one left.

Iris,