A rare wild cat has been photographed in Arizona, the first sighting in the area in 50 years.
The endangered ocelot, which is twice the size of a typical house cat, was spotted stalking in front of a field camera in the Atascosa Mountains, stopping to stare intently into the camera with shining eyes.
The spotted big cat was photographed in June but was only discovered last month when staff from the Phoenix Zoo’s Atascosa Complex Wildlife Research reviewed all of the footage.
“The Ocelot video was one of the last videos I reviewed and I was shaking with excitement and pride for what we had recorded.” Recalling the Field Research Project Manager Kinley Lagann.
“At first I couldn’t believe it and had to watch the video over and over again, but soon a big smile spread across my face as I fully understood the impact of this discovery on this important region.”
This is the first sighting of this particular cat and “the first confirmed sighting of an ocelot in the Atascosa Highlands region in at least 50 years,” the team said in a statement.
A regional non-hunting specialist with the Arizona Game and Fish Department confirmed the findings.
Ocelots have been listed as endangered in the United States since 1972 and have only been recorded intermittently in Arizona, zoo officials said.
Experts say the main threat to the ocelot’s survival is habitat fragmentation and loss – the animal relies on dense forest and grassland habitats for hiding places.
Zoo staff and volunteers will be back on site this month to collect additional footage through the spring and summer, and then in October to collect records of fall wildlife movements.
“The team had originally planned to remove the cameras in October, but these new findings encourage them to extend the study for an additional year,” the researchers said.
“Finding evidence of a new ocelot presence in southern Arizona reinforces our commitment to collaborative efforts to protect the region’s wildlife and their habitat,” said Phoenix Zoo President and CEO Bart Castro.
