Jaguars Returning To U.S.?
Jaguar captured on trail cam at Army base
A second jaguar may have been recorded living in the United States. The Arizona Game and Fish Department and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently received a photograph of a jaguar taken by a Fort Huachuca trail camera in the Huachuca Mountains. Fort Huachuca is a U.S. Army installation near Sierra Vista in southeastern Arizona.
“Preliminary indications are that the cat is a male jaguar and, potentially, an individual not previously seen in Arizona,” said Dr. Benjamin Tuggle, regional director for the Southwest Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in a press release. “We are working with the Arizona Game and Fish Department to determine if this sighting represents a new individual jaguar.”
“While this is exciting news, we are examining photographic evidence to determine if we’re seeing a new cat here, or if this is an animal that has been seen in Arizona before,” said Jim DeVos, assistant director of the department’s Wildlife Management Division, in the same news release. “We look forward to partnering with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and thoroughly vetting the evidence.”
The Arizona Daily Star reports the date stamped on the photo is Dec. 1. They also report this jaguar might not be the Santa Rita Mountains jaguar nicknamed “El Jefe,” who has been spotted in film and video before. El Jefe was first photographed in 2011.
