Should we bring jaguars back to the U.S.? Adele Peters
When a male jaguar was spotted in Arizona in 2011 and then photographed by trail cameras multiple times over the next four years the occurrence was so rare that it inspired a mural in Tucson and a craft beer named after the cat, who was thought to have crossed the border from Mexico. But jaguars once lived throughout the state and in other parts of the U.S. And some scientists now argue that they should be brought back to a two-million-acre swath of Arizona and New Mexico.
“The historical record supports that there were jaguars through most of Arizona and New Mexico, up to the Grand Canyon,” says Eric Sanderson, a senior conservation scientist at the nonprofit Wildlife Conservation Society and the lead author of a new paper that makes the case for reintroduction. There were historical reports of the animals in California as far north as the Bay Area and in southern states such as Louisiana. Thomas Jefferso
Jaguars could be reintroduced in New Mexico as conservationists fight to save the cat Adrian Hedden, Carlsbad Current-Argus
Jaguars could return to New Mexico after hunting left them extinct from the big cat’s historic ranges in the state’s central mountains.
Bringing the animal back to habitats in those two states could be essential to restoring the species, the study read.
“Here, we see reintroducing the jaguar to the mountains of central Arizona and New Mexico as essential to species conservation, ecosystem restoration, and rewilding,” read the study.
A separate study published by Cambridge University Press in March suggested an area spreading between western New Mexico and central Arizona – about 2 million acres – could be suitable for the jaguar’s reintroduction to the American West.
Jaguars could return to New Mexico after hunting left them extinct from the big cat’s historic ranges in the state’s central mountains.
Bringing the animal back to habitats in those two states could be essential to restoring the species, the study read.
“Here, we see reintroducing the jaguar to the mountains of central Arizona and New Mexico as essential to species conservation, ecosystem restoration, and rewilding,” read the study.
A separate study published by Cambridge University Press in March suggested an area spreading between western New Mexico and central Arizona – about 2 million acres – could be suitable for the jaguar’s reintroduction to the American West.
big catscougareartherel jefeenvironmenteric sandersonfelidsjaguarmammalsmammals of south americamichael robinsonnorth american jaguarsharon wilcoxspecies reintroductionthe us fish and wildlife servicetigerwildlife conservation society
A group of conservation scientists say it’s time for the return of an American classic: the jaguar. They argue that jaguars can and should be safely reintroduced to the U.S., not only to help ensure their continued survival but also to address the injustice that led to their local demise more than 50 years ago.
Jaguars, or
Panthera onca, are only the living big cats native to the Americas (cougars, another native wild cat, are actually more closely related to domestic cats than tigers and other big cats). Once, the jaguar’s domain reached far across South and Central America and extended up to the mountainous forests of modern-day central Arizona and New Mexico. But human hunting, some of which was sanctioned by the U.S. government, obliterated