 Arizona along the international border and reintroducing jaguars there would allow known populations in Mexico to travel north and breed to increase genetic diversity, the petition argued.
That would entail introducing jaguars to habitat along New Mexico’s western border to Arizona in an area within Gila National Forest north of Silver City, the petition read, along with smaller areas in New Mexico’s southwest corner.
The petition also sought to add lands in Arizona to the east of Phoenix and in the mountains to the north around Flagstaff and Prescott.
Evidence of jaguars in North America dated back to some of the continent’s earliest indigenous peoples, the petition read, and the animal’s place in spiritual teachings of Pueblo peoples in northern New Mexico, Navajo tribes and the Apache.
“Pueblo peoples throughout northern New Mexico and Arizona regarded the jaguar as one of several supernatural avatars who served as mentors in hunting,” the petition read.
It was in the early 20th Century when the U.S. government began killing jaguars to protect local livestock production, hindering its survival and evolution.
That was a wrong the Center argued must be rectified by designating lands in the U.S. for the jaguar to thrive and reintroducing them.
“Notwithstanding the government’s deplorable consistency in hindering jaguar conservation, the passage of laws and their enforcement has led policies and practices regarding jaguars to evolve,” read the petition.
And despite its listing under the Endangered Species Act, and the federal government setting aside about 764,000 acres for habitat in 2014, the jaguar still struggled to grow in numbers, the petition read, and stronger action was needed.
“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service can do far better,” read the petition. “The geography, history, and biology pertaining to the jaguar, as well as the law, argue for a new approach to jaguar conservation.”
In a statement following the court decision to remove New Mexico lands from jaguar habitat, former New Mexico Farm and Lives