America has a SECOND jaguar: Camera on an Army base captures image of a big cat prowling through the Arizona mountains
- A jaguar was spotted 75 miles south-east of Tucson on a military base
- A killed the last verified female jaguar in the U.S. in 1963 in northern Arizona
- More jaguars lived in the South-West before habitat loss and predator programs
PUBLISHED: 16:47 GMT, 8 December 2016 | UPDATED: 17:32 GMT, 8 December 2016
A second wild jaguar may have been spotted in the United States.
A photo taken on December 1 in a southern Arizona mountain range appears to show a new wild jaguar - an animal rarely seen in the country after its habitat was lost.
The Arizona Game and Fish Department says a preliminary analysis suggests the cat is new to the area and is not 'El Jefe,' a jaguar that was captured on video in a nearby mountain range last year.
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Spotted: A camera belonging to Fort Huachuca Army installation has captured what is likely the second wild jaguar to be spotted in the US in recent years
Until now, El Jefe was believed to be the only jaguar in the U.S., although he hasn't been seen in over a year.
The jaguar in question was seen on a camera belonging to Fort Huachuca, the Army installation about 75 miles south-east of Tucson.
Mark Hart, a spokesman for the Arizona Game and Fish Department, said jaguars migrate from Mexico to southern Arizona about every five to 10 years but that a female jaguar hasn't been spotted in the US since the 1940s.
'So the quality of life isn't here for the jaguar,' Hart said.
'El Jefe' - Spanish for 'the boss' - has been living in the Santa Rita Mountains about 25 miles south of downtown Tucson for over three years
Only known wild jaguar in US 'El Jefe' caught on camera
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But Arizona, New Mexico and other parts of the South-West were home to jaguars before habitat loss and predator control programs aimed at protecting livestock eliminated them over the last 150 years. A hunter shot and killed the last verified female jaguar in the US in 1963 in northern Arizona.
'It's so exciting that in the last 30 years or so, five or six males have shown up in the US and are starting to re-establish themselves in the historical range,' said Rob Peters, a Tucson-based biologist.
Peters says that although there haven't been any female jaguars in the area, the fact that males are establishing habitats is a good sign that they could come in the future.
Hart says analysts will study the jaguar's rosettes, the spots within the spots on the cat's fur, to figure out if it's been seen before.
El Jefe was seen roaming around a creek in southern Arizona. He hasn't been spotted since last year
Peters says his organization is anxiously awaiting a report by the federal government that is expected to outline a jaguar recovery plan for the area.
'They were once found in Arizona as far north as the Grand Canyon. There were females and cubs in the Southwest,' Peters said.
But protecting the big cats has been fraught with legal challenges.
In March 2014, the US Fish and Wildlife Service set aside nearly 1,200 square miles along the US-Mexico border as habitat essential for the conservation of the jaguar.
The New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau, New Mexico Cattle Growers' Association and New Mexico Federal Lands Council filed a lawsuit nearly a year later, saying the decision was 'unlawful, arbitrary and capricious'. That lawsuit is ongoing.
Only El Jefe has made numerous appearances in the US in several years. He first popped up in the Whetstone Mountains in 2011 when he was about three years old and showed up again in video in the Santa Rita Mountains south of Tucson around September 2015.
THE BIG CAT WHICH HAS ALMOST VANISHED FROM THE US
Jaguars once roamed the United States but have almost entirely vanished in the last 150 years.
A diminishing habitat - caused by humans - and culling to protect livestock are both factors that have led to their demise.
The last known wild female jaguar was shot dead in 1963 by a hunter in Arizona's White Mountains.
Jaguars once roamed the United States but have vanished in the last 150 years. File picture of a jaguar in Brazil in 2007
Jaguar hunting was outlawed ion Arizona in 1969, but since then only two have been found - and were subsequently killed.
Since then, jaguars have been occasionally spotted but their existence has not been confirmed by officials.
There are still jaguars in much of central America, with sightings of the animals far more common in Mexico and as far south as northern Argentina.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4014168/America-SECOND-jaguar-Camera-Army-base-captures-image-big-cat-prowling-Arizona-mountains.html#ixzz4SK7r5gAi
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