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Defenders in Action: New Home for Jaguars
A remote ranch in northern Mexico is being transformed into a haven for jaguars, thanks to the work of Defenders and its partners. Naturalia, a Mexican conservation group, recently purchased the 10,000-acre ranch in rugged country about 120 miles south of the Arizona border. Defenders is working with Naturalia and the Northern Jaguar Project to turn the property into a center for protecting and studying the wild cats, and educating the public about these rare animals.
Jaguars, the largest native North American cat, once roamed from Arizona , New Mexico and Texas all the way to Argentina. But they have rarely been sighted in the United States since the 1900s and are listed as endangered throughout their range.
The new jaguar preserve is part of a 3,000-square-mile area inhabited by the northernmost population of jaguars. In the last three years, at least 25 of the wild cats have been killed by ranchers and poachers, reducing the population to 75. Defenders and its partners hope to expand the Sonoran jaguar population and set the stage for the creatures to reclaim their habitat in the southwestern United States.
