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SCIENCESaturday 4 March 2017
Agency reports rare jaguar sighting in mountains of Arizona
ASTRID GALVAN This Nov, 16, 2016 photo provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows a Jaguar photo- says does not do enough.
Associated Press graphed by a motion-detection cameras in the Dos Cabezas Mountains in southern Arizona. The proposed plan is fo-
PHOENIX (AP) — Wildlife cused on efforts to sustain
officials say they have Associated Press habitat, eliminate poach-
evidence of a rare jag- ing and improving social
uar sighting in the United Officials say they can’t spotted in decades. government will consid- acceptance of the ani-
States, giving conserva- tell the jaguar’s gender or But conservationists think er the fate of jaguars if mal rather than recom-
tionists hope that the en- age from the photo. The the latest sighting is evi- a border wall is built, as mending reintroduction.
dangered cat is re-estab- two other jaguars that dence that the jaguar is President Donald Trump The plan was published on
lishing itself here. have been recently spot- returning to the U.S. after has promised. Dec. 20 and is up for pub-
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife ted were both male, and decades away. They say He said it’s likely that the lic comment until March
Service released a photo Arizona Game and Fish a possible border wall three jaguars spotted in 20.The first jaguar to be
Thursday from a trail cam- officials have said a fe- could stop that. the U.S. have come from recently seen, dubbed
era that was taken in No- male jaguar hasn’t been “What it means is that this Mexico through rugged by wildlife conservations
vember and recently re- majestic animal is trying areas where it would be as “El Jefe” — Spanish for
trieved. to return to its homelands difficult to build a wall “the boss” —popped up
It shows the spotted cat in the United States. There anyway. in the Whetstone Moun-
wandering through the is habitat in the United Bird also said he hopes tains in southeastern Ari-
Dos Cabezas Mountains States for this animal, for the latest discovery will zona in 2011 when he was
in Arizona about 60 miles this beautiful cat,” said persuade the U.S. Fish about 3 years old. He was
north of the U.S.-Mexico Bryan Bird, the southwest and Wildlife Service to seen again in the Santa
border. Fish and Wildlife program director for De- amend its proposed jag- Rita Mountains south of
spokesman Jeff Hum- fenders of Wildlife. uar recovery plan, which Tucson around Septem-
phrey says it’s the farthest Bird said he hopes the the Defenders of Wildlife ber 2015.A trail camera
north of the border that a photo taken on Dec. 1 in
jaguar has been seen in a mountain range near
decades. Fort Huachuca, the Army
“The significance is that installation about 75 miles
we’re getting a clearer southeast of Tucson, cap-
understanding of where tured a second jaguar
jaguars occur in the bor- that was seen on camera
derline area,” Humphrey again in January.
said. It’s been decades Around seven jaguars
since a jaguar was spot- have been documented
ted in that mountain in southern Arizona and
range, he said. southwestern New Mex-
ico since 1996.Arizona,
New Mexico and other
parts of the southwestern
U.S. were home to jag-
uars before habitat loss
and predator control pro-
grams aimed at protect-
ing livestock eliminated
them over the last 150
years.q
