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Phoenix Zoo Phoenix Zoo's new jaguar

Discussion in 'United States' started by Ituri, 20 Nov 2008.

  1. Ituri

    Ituri Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    The Phoenix Zoo has acquired a wild-caught Sonoran jaguar with an interesting backstory. He's staying in Phoenix for a couple years to receive some dental work and hopefully breed with the Phoenix Zoo's resident female jaguar Caipora.

    Captured jaguar arrives at Phoenix Zoo
     
  2. dragon(ele)nerd

    dragon(ele)nerd Well-Known Member

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    wow, that's awesome news, also him being a rare northern breed should be very interesting in a way ( hard to explain) I'm actually very surprised that he is the only Jaguar in a U.S to be born in the wild,
     
  3. okapikpr

    okapikpr Well-Known Member

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    There are at least 5 other wild born Jags in the US...but I do believe he is the only such wild born northern range Jag.
     
  4. MARK

    MARK Well-Known Member

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    Okapikpr do they have an idea how many Jags still remain in the wild in the US?
     
  5. Ituri

    Ituri Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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  6. dragon(ele)nerd

    dragon(ele)nerd Well-Known Member

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    If it becomes successfuly enough,

    oh dear in breeding! :eek:
     
  7. Arizona Docent

    Arizona Docent Well-Known Member 15+ year member

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    The Phoenix sonoran jaguar has been shipped back to Mexico.


    Since someone asked about wild sonoran jaguars in U.S., I will respond, but it is a bit lengthy, so read on only if this topic interests you:

    There were two males (Macho A and Macho B) that the remote camera traps in southern Arizona (south of Tucson) were tracking. There have also been two sightings of two different males, about ten years apart, in the Peloncillo Mountains on the Arizona/New Mexico border. FYI, a book of the camera trap photos from south of Tucson was recently published and is well worth the price. It is called Ambushed On The Jaguar Trail.

    One of the two (I forget if it was A or B) was captured and radiocollared about a year ago. Unfortunately, tracking showed he had not moved so he was located and recaptured and evacuated (I assume by helicopter) to the veterinary hospital at the Phoenix Zoo. He had to be euthanized, although he was estimated to be at least 16 years old, which is of course beyond the average lifespan of any cat in the wild (but not in a zoo). This was one week after his initial capture and it caused a bit of controversy in our local newspapers. Basically, some people saying the initial capture is what killed him, which may or may not be true (I don't think we will ever know).

    Adding to the controversy, Arizona Game & Fish say that the capture was not planned but was opportunistic, because they were doing a puma study (or was it black bear?) and the collars were for that. They say they happened to come across the jaguar and so took the opportunity to capture it. Many people feel this is hogwash, and the newpapers sited a volunteer from the jaguar camera trapping project who says the capture was planned and that scent was placed as bait at a scratching tree he used as bait.

    The other male jaguar (either A or B) had disappeared from the cameras shortly before this and as far as I know was never seen again. There have been no sightings in the U.S. that I know of recently. However, after all the controversy, I very strongly suspect that the Borderlands Jaguar Detection Project is not releasing information on any more sightings. So they may have new photos that we do not know about. The project biologist who I got to know has since moved out of the country to work on a different wild cat, so I lost my inside information.

    Within the last couple months, however, a camera trap photo was released from a ranch in Sonora Mexico that was taken supposedly close to the U.S. border - I think it said about 40 miles south. This was a separate camera trapping project sponsored by a very aggressive environmental group called Sky Island Alliance. This group joined by another controversial group called Center for Biological Diversity has sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service three times to designate critical habitat for jaguars in the southwest U.S. (under the Endangered Species Act). They lost twice, but finally won the third time, which was earlier this year. However, this is not necessarily good news as it appears to be. Local ranchers were voluntarily working with the jaguar project and had agreed not to kill jaguars. The fact that they volunteered and were not forced created good relations on both sides. This new lawsuit may create hard feelings and actually do more harm than good. In fact, the esteeemed jaguar/cat researcher Alan Rabinowitz actually made a formal statement opposing the ruling and saying it is a waste of money and resources that Fish and Wildlife could have used on more pressing wildlife needs, since any U.S. jaguars are incidental wanderers and not at all necessary to the longterm survival of the species, whose main range is Latin America.