Federally run trail cameras in Southern Arizona's Huachuca Mountains caught footage of a wild jaguar at least twice this year, according to a news release from the Center for Biological Diversity.
A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service database that tracks jaguar detections lists two photos, one in March and one in May, the news release said.
The photos were taken after former Gov. Doug Ducey's shipping container border wall was removed from a critical jaguar migration corridor in the Huachuca Mountains, the release said.
“These photos show that despite so many obstacles, jaguars continue to reestablish territory in the United States,” said Russ McSpadden, a conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity in the release. “This is a wonderful reminder that these big cats move great distances across the landscape. It drives home the importance of protecting connected habitat for these elusive, beautiful felines.”
This is the second jaguar to be detected in the Huachuca Mountains since 2016, the news release said. The first was a young male that roamed the mountains in 2016 and 2017, but was photographed dead in Sonora, Mexico, in 2018.
Seven jaguars have been confirmed by photographs in the United States in the past 20 years.
