The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has denied a petition to reintroduce jaguars in New Mexico but is still considering a proposal to expand the imperiled species’ critical habitat in Arizona and New Mexico.
The Center for Biological Diversity submitted a petition in December 2022 to establish an experimental population in New Mexico and reintroduce jaguars in the Gila National Forest. Mexican gray wolves are being managed under such a program in New Mexico and Arizona.
The group asked the wildlife service to create an experimental population under section 10(j) of the Endangered Species Act, which allows the agency to reestablish self-sustaining populations outside a species’ current range.
The center also wanted the wildlife service to expand jaguars’ critical habitat. The U.S. currently protects about 750,000 acres of habitat along the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona and New Mexico, and the center petitioned to increase this area to nearly 15 million acres.
The federal agency denied the center’s request to create a reintroduction program, concluding that it was unnecessary for the species’ survival, but the wildlife service has not yet decided whether to expand protected habitat.