Baby Jaguar Found Paralyzed After Being Shot 18 Times Makes a Full Recovery - Ecuador

Baby Jaguar Found Paralyzed After Being Shot 18 Times Makes a Full Recovery

Updated: Mar 14, 2017 1:10 PM  http://www.cbs8.com/story/34846450/baby-jaguar-found-paralyzed-after-being-shot-18-times-makes-a-full-recovery

by Johanna Li - Inside Edition

A baby jaguar found paralyzed in an Ecuadorian jungle after being shot 18 times is now making a remarkable recovery, thanks to a veterinary team who refused to give up.

D’Yaria, an 11-month-old jaguar, was discovered badly injured by locals hiking through a remote forest. Veterinarians guessed she had been shot by cattle farmer looking to protect their herd, and dashed into wooded area looking for shelter. 

They also believed farmers must have shot her mom, since D’Yaria was discovered alone and believe she is an orphan.

The baby jaguar was transported to a veterinary team in the nick of time at Darwin Animal Doctors, where they discovered 18 shotgun pellets lodged inside her body. 

Other than some movement in her head and neck, D’Yaria was paralyzed.

Despite the grim diagnosis, Dr. Andres Ortega and Dr. Cris Cely were able to remove the pellets pressing down on her spine, and as D’Yaria began healing from the surgery, her ability to move came back.

After a month of rest and relaxation under round-the-clock supervision, D’Yaria was ready to move to a nature preserve nearby.

Officials say she is about 95 percent recovered, but Darwin Animal Doctors president Tod Emko told InsideEdition.com he hopes her story will spread awareness on the importance of taking care of the species.

“The goal of all the vets and Darwin Animal Doctors is to get the satellite tracking collar, as D'Yaria will go from victim and survivor to a champion for jaguar conservation,” Emko said.

To help researchers purchase satellite tracking collars for other jaguars, visit the Darwin Animal Doctors website.

A Disappearing Shadow

March 17, 2017 by Samuel Illingworth  https://thepoetryofscience.scienceblog.com/403/a-disappearing-shadow/

Dappled silhouettes amongst the trees –

A lost memory of verdant lands.

Your fragmented impressions

Have disappeared from view;

All that remains is

An empty shell

Which one day

Too will

Fade.

The Jaguar: disappearing from South America (Photo Credit: Charlesjsharp).

This is a nonet, inspired by recent research that has succeeded in comparing the movement and space use of jaguars across five different biomes (a region defined by a specific climate and population of fauna and flora) in Brazil and Argentina.

Scientists recently discovered that only about 300 jaguars remain in Brazil. The main reason for this is because only 7% of the Atlantic Rainforests (where the jaguars live) now remain. This dramatic reduction has resulted in the near extinction of the jaguar in these regions, a problem made worse by the fact that what remains of the Atlantic Rainforests is now so fragmented that the jaguars must travel great distances and expose themselves to multiple threats (mainly from humans) in their quest for food.

This new research used GPS tracking to monitor 44 jaguars from 1998 to 2016 across different regions of the Atlantic Rainforest in both Brazil and Argentina. The study, which is the largest of its kind, revealed for certain that the Atlantic Rainforest jaguars travelled across the largest ranges and were thus the most likely to encounter humans. This research fills a gap in the knowledge of the jaguar’s habitats and is essential to help develop more effective conservation efforts.

An audio version of the poem can be heard here.

16 MARCH 2017   http://www.defendersblog.org/2017/03/u-s-jaguars-need-help/

U.S. Jaguars Need Your Help – Updated

A crucial turning point for this endangered species is coming up.

In Teddy Roosevelt’s day jaguars roamed from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona to New Mexico’s Rio Grande and across much of southern Texas. Over the past two centuries, jaguars have been eliminated from more than half of their range, which spans the U.S. Southwest and Central and South America.

Some male jaguars like those that have been named El Jefe and Macho B have found their way to the U.S. from Mexico. Because El Jefe and Macho B lived for years in the U.S. we know there is plenty of food to sustain these jaguars, including favorites white-tailed deer and javelina, a pig-like animal. Two more jaguars confirmed to be roaming in southern Arizona, north of the U.S. – Mexico border, in 2016.

Recent jaguar sightings have given new hope and added a sense of renewed urgency to the jaguar recovery effort in the United States. Ever since the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) granted U.S. jaguars full protection under the Endangered Species Act in 1997, conservationists have been waiting for the agency to develop a recovery plan for endangered jaguars.

Finally, last December, FWS released the long-awaited draft plan.

FWS’ Draft Plan Falls Short for America’s Elusive Big Cat

FWS’ draft plan rightly recognizes how important it is to protect Mexican jaguars. If these jaguars are lost, no more will find their way to the U.S. The U.S. must partner with Mexican organizations and help provide necessary resources.

But FWS’ plan fails in two serious ways.

Suitable Jaguar Habitat

For U.S. jaguars, FWS’ draft plan only considered a small bit of habitat south of Interstate 10 (I-10). A model commissioned by FWS predicted that this area could support between two to four female jaguars at most. Meanwhile, scientist Tony Povilitis calculated that adding potential habitat north of I-10 in the Mogollon Rim area of Arizona and New Mexico could raise the number to at least 250 jaguars of both sexes.

Migrating Males Need Mates

FWS’ draft plan also fails to consider translocation – moving jaguars to new U.S. habitat. While some male jaguars have successfully made the trek from south of the border, female jaguars are by nature less likely to travel across the rocky borderlands. And without females, no cubs will be born again in the U.S. Introducing females could make establishing U.S. jaguar populations a reality.

It’s unclear why FWS is reluctant to use this strategy for jaguars. The agency has translocated other imperiled Southwestern animals like the Mexican gray wolf and Sonoran pronghorn to recover them. Why not jaguars?

Another Hurdle for Jaguars: The Border Wall

More than 600 miles of barriers already exist along the U.S.-Mexico border, which have blocked off many of the pathways (or corridors) that jaguars and other wildlife could use to migrate between the two countries.

Any expansion of these barriers could close off all jaguar corridors across the border, ensuring that no more jaguars reach the U.S. on their own. Defenders, our conservation partners and other groups are working hard to ensure that the border remains open to jaguars and other wildlife.

Defenders’ Recommendations

On March 21, Defenders will release a new report on U.S. jaguars that provides more details on the benefits and challenges surrounding U.S. jaguar recovery. The report, Bringing El Tigre Home, will also include our recommendations to strengthen FWS’ U.S. jaguar recovery efforts, which include asking FWS to evaluate strategies for female jaguar translocation and to include all suitable habitat in the jaguar recovery area.

How You Can Help

FWS’ draft recovery plan is currently in review and is open for public comment until Monday, March 20. Click here to tell FWS that you want the agency to be champions for jaguars in the U.S. Tell the agency that it should plan for a population north of I-10 and seriously consider translocating jaguars to the U.S.

Let’s bring the jaguar back home!

To learn more about our field work and other projects, sign up for our emails where you will get all the latest news and action alerts to support wildlife.

Rob Peters, Senior Representative, Southwest Office

As a jack-of-all trades in the Tucson Office, Rob collaborates with the Defenders Renewable Energy Group, helping evaluate and influence renewable energy policies and projects to ensure that renewable energy is developed wisely, with minimum harm to natural ecosystems. He also works on jaguar issues, helping plan for the eventual return of a viable population in the U.S., and he is the lead on Defenders efforts to safeguard Arizona’s Mountain Empire, a Defenders’ priority area surrounding the town of Patagonia. This area contains some of the last best native grasslands in the Southwest, along with important habitat for jaguar, Mexican spotted owl, and other endangered species.

Third rare jaguar spotted in Arizona (USA), state wildlife officials say

Third rare jaguar spotted in Arizona, state wildlife officials say

• Today's News-Herald
 
• Mar 2, 2017 Updated 1 hr ago
 
•  0

http://www.havasunews.com/news/third-rare-jaguar-spotted-in-arizona-state-wildlife-officials-say/article_424ef7de-ff6f-11e6-9a04-679f78427f78.html

The third jaguar documented in southern Arizona since September 2012 was photographed by a Bureau of Land Management trail camera in Cochise County. The image was taken on Nov. 16 in the Dos Cabezas Mountains 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border; the camera data was only recently retrieved. This is the only jaguar photographed by this BLM-deployed camera since it was installed in August 2016. The camera remains on site.

Five Arizona Game and Fish Department scientists independently completed an analysis of the photo, comparing the jaguar’s spot patterns to other jaguars sighted previously in Arizona, according to the Arizona Department of Game & Fish. They concluded that the jaguar hadn't been previously identified. The sex of the jaguar could not be determined by the photo. 

 “Since 2012, an increase in trail camera monitoring of mountainous habitat in southern Arizona has provided increased documentation and a better understanding of jaguar presence and habitat preferences,” said Steve Spangle, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Arizona field supervisor, in a news release. “This supports the phenomenon that jaguars seeking territories outside of competitive breeding areas in Mexico continue to occasion Arizona.”

“This is a unique development. Jaguars are a historical component of Arizona’s wildlife diversity,” said Jim deVos, Assistant Director for Wildlife Management at the Arizona Game and Fish Department. “However, given the irregularity with which jaguar presence in Arizona is documented, even with the expanded use of trail cameras, this sighting is not an indication that jaguars are establishing a population in Arizona.”

BLM Safford Field Office Manager Scott Cooke said the finding shows the public lands in the Dos Cabezas Mountains are an important wildlife corridor, linking the northern end of the Chiricahua Mountains.  

A male jaguar was repeatedly documented in the Whetstone and Santa Rita Mountains between 2011 and 2015. Another male has been twice photographed in the Huachuca Mountains in December 2016 and January 2017.

 The jaguar has been protected in the U.S. as endangered under the Endangered Species Act since 1997.