Wild Sonora

Press release from Center for Biological Diversity - The Center for Biological Diversity has learned that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a permit on June 14 to the Arizona Game and Fish Department allowing the state agency to “take” jaguars and ocelots, which can include killing, injuring or otherwise harming the rare felines. The permit was issued 15 months after Arizona Game and Fish killed the last known jaguar in the United States, an animal called Macho B. Read more

Ocelot in Snow at El Aribabi, Sonora Ocelot photo from Cochise County, Arizona 2010

Update: Arizona Game and Fish found a dead Ocelot hit and killed by a car this April 2010 just south of Globe, AZ!

April 16, 2010. Tucson, ARIZ. – Remote cameras captured the image of an ocelot, a rare tropical cat, in Cochise County , Arizona . Sky Island Alliance, a Tucson-based regional conservation organization, recently photographed the cat while participating in the Witness for Wildlife program, which is supported by the Freedom to Roam Coalition and Patagonia , the outdoor clothing company.

Sky Island Alliance sets remote cameras to unobtrusively observe wildlife and assess wildlife corridors in Arizona’s Sky Island region. Last week, volunteer citizen naturalists participating in the Witness for Wildlife program retrieved images from one of the remote cameras in Cochise County. The image of the ocelot was dated November 7, 2009.

Taken by a remote camera, this remarkable photograph is the first verifiable record of this elusive wild feline alive in Arizona. Although a small number of ocelots live in south Texas, ocelots have never before been recorded alive in Arizona. Additionally, this record from Arizona places ocelots over 200 miles north in latitude from where they are found in Texas.

About the Ocelot

These medium-sized tropical cats have long tails and agile bodies, weighing about 35 pounds. Their tan-brown fur is darkly spotted with distinguishing parallel black stripes on the forehead, neck and shoulder. Ocelots hunt mostly at night and eat small rodents, birds and lizards. The ocelot was listed in the U.S. as a federally endangered species in 1982. Fossil records of ocelots in Arizona date back 10,000 years, but more recent historic records are rare and primarily evidenced by pelts.

“This ocelot, alive in Southern Arizona, is so exciting to see, to take pride in. We now know that these incredibly rare cats are here with us, can co-exist with us, and have done so right under our noses,” said Sky Island Alliance biologist Jessica Lamberton. “That an ocelot is here in Arizona tells us that the habitat is healthy, and the connection between healthy landscapes is still a possibility for ocelots and other species.”

Buffelgrass Fire (Pennisetum ciliare)It's becoming common knowledge that buffelgrass (Pennisetum ciliare) is a huge problem for native vegetation in the Sonoran Desert of southern Arizona. In Sonora the problem is worse. Vast areas of Sonora are over-run with buffelgrass. Ranchers in Sonora continue to blade and till desert and thornscrub to plant this grass, which helps as cattle forage primarily only in the short-term. Once well established the grass becomes fairly woody and cows tend not to eat it unless there is little else.

Unfortunately continued drought and poor range conditions in Sonora make blading one's ranch for buffelgrass seem like an atractive option to push for high productivity.

Buffelgrass outcompetes natives especially on Sonoran Desert slopes, sometimes becoming almost 100% of vegetative cover. This is esp. problematic for saguaros and other cacti, which often prefer the same habitat. Buffelgrass is very fire-adapted and spreads fire readily, burning out native plants and hitting saguaros and other cacti the hardest.

The Plains of Sonora subdivision of the Sonoran Desert has been especially hard hit by buffelgrass. See more about buffelgrass here.

Natalgrass (Melinis repens) is becoming a major invasive in some areas of warmer, wetter Sonora. Some slopes can be completely dominanted by this species. Less known than buffelgrass, an eye should be kept on this species. It has spread to some of the most remote places I've been in Sonora. It's hard to hate this grass since it is very pretty.

Tom Van Devender has wrote more about Melinis repens at the Sonoran Desert Museum website.

Macho B during capture (AZ Game and Fish)Macho B After TranquilizationHalf of this story is now being told - the intentional capture of Macho B by AZ Game and Fish. The other half of the story, which may be impossible to prove now (ironically due to Fish and Wildlife ordering the wrong kind of necropsy), is that the capture and associated stress, drugs, foot, and canine tooth damage led to the death of Macho B. The decision to euthanize Macho B may have been warranted by the time of re-capture.

Macho B had been in a foot snare for an unknown amount of time after initial capture, potentially many hours and obviously had foot damage. The tree to which he was chained was apparently severely scratched. Capture Myopathy, a condition which is caused by stress and sometimes over-exertion, often kills its victims in ways which fit Macho B's symptoms very well. All evidence and photos point to a very healthy Jaguar (esp. for his age of 16-20 years), which started a quick decline in health almost immediately after capture. See videos of Macho B after capture here.

Hopefully we all learn a lesson from this debacle for next time a jaguar decide to take up residence in our state.

See Full Fish and Wildlife Investigative Report Here

Snaring deliberate, and state lacked permits, US reports. Jaguar's capture broke law, feds say (AZ Daily Star)