OCELOTS ARE AMONG the rarest of wild cats and with a territory primarily in South and Central America, it’s uncommon to see them in the States — to the extreme. But in the Huachuca Mountains of Arizona two days ago, a dog chased one up a tree. Experts with the Arizona Game and Fish Department arrived, took photos and verified the sighting. They determined that it appeared healthy enough to be left alone.
It marked an extremely rare U.S. sighting of a species that has been federally endangered since 1982, and only the second time one of the spotted wildcats has been documented in Arizona since the mid-1960s.
Ocelots, which are nocturnal predators that can weigh up to about 35 pounds, were once hunted extensively for their dappled coats. In the United States, only southern Texas is believed to hold a remnant population. But after Tuesday’s sighting, Arizona Game and Fish declared, the extreme northern fringe of their habitat must also include Arizona.
To the south, ocelots range in lowland brush and rainforests habitat from Mexico into South America. They have long tails and pointed fangs and sharp back teeth used to tear instead of chew food. The animals are largely protected throughout their range, but poaching remains a serious problem.
Arizona Game and Fish officials also collected scat from the ocelot spotted Tuesday, and is working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to determine whether it was, in fact, a naturally occurring specimen, or if it had previously been kept as someone’s pet.
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