U.S. to protect jaguars’ habitat; But Louisiana not going to the cats

U.S. to protect jaguars’ habitat; But Louisiana not going to the cats

Mark Schleifstein<br/>Staff writer

793 words

14 January 2010

The Times-Picayune

A 06

English

© 2010 The Times Picayune. All rights reserved.

Don’t expect to see sleek, 200-pound jaguars stalking nutria in south Louisiana in the near future, despite a decision this week by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect parts of the predators’ historic habitat in this country.

While the endangered spotted cats that now roam from Mexico to South America were believed to travel into parts of coastal Louisiana as recently as the 1880s, the habitat designation is expected to be limited to mountainous areas of Arizona and New Mexico, a wildlife service spokesman said.

And there are no plans to reintroduce jaguars into the United States; the plan will be based on protecting cats that now cross the border from Mexico, said spokesman Jeff Humphrey.

The last reported sighting of a jaguar in Louisiana was in June 1886, when the Donaldsonville Chief newspaper reported that two men had killed a 200-pound animal that had killed several colts, cattle and dogs. The big cat was “said to have resembled the jaguar or American tiger, more than the panther.”

Jaguars were often referred to as American tigers, to differentiate them from the smaller American panther or cougar, which also was found in Louisiana at the time.

“These gentlemen trailed the beast for about ten miles, with the assistance of several dogs, and finally treed him,” said the news story, which was reprinted eight days later in The Daily Picayune in New Orleans. “A couple of well directed shots brought him to the ground, where he was attacked by the dogs, two of whom he killed before another shot from Mr. Walker’s gun laid the ‘varmint’ low.”

A spokesman for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries said such anecdotal evidence does not prove the big cats actually lived in Louisiana.

“Historically, the only big cat we have is the cougar, which is the Florida panther,” said Gary Lester, the department’s expert on endangered species.

The decision to identify critical habitat for the large cats results from a federal court order overturning a 2006 decision by the Bush administration that found that doing so was not prudent. At the time, wildlife officials said no areas in this nation met the definition of critical habitat. A similar 1997 wildlife service decision also found that identifying critical habitats would provide information for individuals intent on killing the animals, thus further threatening them.

After the 2006 decision, however, several jaguars were spotted in Arizona, and the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity filed suit.

In a Federal Register notice published Wednesday, the wildlife service said it now finds that protecting the cats’ American habitat can be beneficial to the species.

Humphrey said the habitat plan will be designed around a known population of breeding jaguars located about 100 miles south of the border.

“In colonial times, we’ve ascertained that jaguars in the United States ranged along the southern tier of states from Louisiana to California,” he said. “That hasn’t been the case for many decades, if not centuries.”

The last jaguar known to be in the United States was nicknamed Macho B when it was snared by Arizona Fish and Game agents and given a tracking collar in February 2009. It died several weeks later, possibly of a kidney infection.

Humphrey said any habitat decision will be complicated by the fence being built along the border between Mexico and the United States that aims to prevent illegal immigration.

There’s been no public interest in replanting jaguars to south Louisiana, even as a way to help control the exploding population of nutria, an invasive species of rat that is a natural food source for the cats, Lester said.

“Releasing large predators in general is not an easy thing to do from any perspective,” Lester said. “The public tends not be supportive of that kind of thing.”

But Michael Robinson, a spokesman for the Center for Biological Diversity, is intrigued by the wide open spaces of Louisiana’s coastal wetlands.

“Anything involving the jaguar’s historic range should not be taken off the table,” Robinson said. “The size of the area sounds like at least one reason to investigate it as part of a possible jaguar recovery plan.”

He agreed, however, that moving the animals to Louisiana would be a stretch, as such recovery plans generally are based on the establishment of connections between existing populations — in this case, in Mexico — and the new habitat. Without the cats’ reestablishment across the broad southern expanse of Texas, the chances of introducing them to Louisiana would be slim.

. . . . . . .

Mark Schleifstein can be reached at mschleifstein@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3327.