Federal officials deny plea to reintroduce jaguars in Southwest

The jaguar population is considered near threatened
A group petitioned to reintroduce the cats in the Southwest
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service denied that petition last week

Updated: Jan 30, 2024 / 02:27 PM CST

A jaguar rests in an area recently scorched by wildfires at the Encontro das Aguas park in the Pantanal wetlands near Pocone, Mato Grosso state Brazil, Friday, Nov. 17, 2023. Amid the high heat, wildfires are burning widely in the Pantanal biome, the world’s biggest tropical wetlands. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

(NewsNation) — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service denied a petition seeking to reintroduce jaguars to the Gila National Forest in New Mexico.

Jaguars were first protected by the Endangered Species Act more than 50 years ago, according to a news release from the Center for Biological Diversity, which filed the petition in 2022. The species’ population now is considered near threatened, with eight individual jaguars documented in the United States in nearly 30 years.

Fish and Wildlife Services sent the Center for Biological Diversity a letter last week saying that “recovery of the species could be achieved without the presence of jaguars in the Gila National Forest,” the center stated in its news release.

“This is a heartbreaking example of the Fish and Wildlife Service’s continued failure to take proactive steps to bring jaguars back to their native range,” Laiken Jordahl, Southwest conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, said. “Federal officials should be aiding jaguar recovery, not making excuses that justify their continued inaction.”

The group had petitioned to designate critical habitat to support a population of jaguars in Arizona and New Mexico with connectivity between the Gila National Forest and the northernmost jaguar population.

Doing so would help reverse the decline in genetic diversity in the jaguars living in northwestern Mexico and conserve the ecosystems in the U.S.

There are about 173,000 jaguars in existence across 19 countries, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The animal’s habitat has declined 20% since the early 2000s as other threats, including trophy killing and illegal trade, intensify.