(NewsNation) – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service denied a petition seeking to reintroduce jaguars to the Gila National Forest in New Mexico. Jaguars were first protected by the Endangered Species Act more than 50 years ago, according to a news release from the Center for Biological Diversity, which filed the petition in 2022. The species’ population now is considered near threatened, with eight individual jaguars documented in the United States in nearly 30 years.