New Arizona jaguar
Center for     Biological     Diversity   

New Jaguar Photographed in Southern Arizona

Celebrity jaguar El Jefe has company -- not exactly next door, but at least this side of the U.S.-Mexican border. A young male jaguar has been photographed in southern Arizona's Huachuca Mountains, near the town of Sierra Vista. The great cat was caught on a Fort Huachuca trail camera, his image posted on Facebook by a Boy Scout troop.

"We've been expecting another jaguar to pop up in southern Arizona," said Randy Serraglio, a conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. "Jaguars belong here, and if we protect the wide-open spaces they need, they'll thrive here again. El Jefe has proven that."

Jaguars roamed throughout the southern United States for thousands of years before being wiped out after European settlement. The Center has been working for years to protect jaguars across the Southwest. Get more from Tucson News Now and check out footage of El Jefe we released earlier this year on Facebook or YouTube.

Deepwater Horizon fire

Trump's Picks: The United States of Oil?

Every day Trump ups the ante on corruption and greed: He's establishing a government that will do everything it can to reward oil and gas corporations, halt any action on the climate crisis, sell off our public lands, and put wildlife and the planet last.

It's no accident that he's picked ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson for secretary of state; former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (who has taken $11 million in oil-money donations and sits on the board of the company pushing the Dakota Access Pipeline) to lead the Department of Energy; and Scott Pruitt -- a climate-denier and relentless oil-industry advocate -- to run the Environmental Protection Agency.

It's time to stand up and fight. Stay tuned for how to join our groundbreaking Earth2Trump tour in January. Meanwhile, sign our Trump pledge of resistance, check out our Trump Action Toolkit and consider donating to our Trump Resistance Fund.

Settlement Calls to Protect 34,000 Acres for Rare Salamander

Tiger salamander

As part of a legal settlement with the Center, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this week released a final recovery plan for endangered California tiger salamanders living in Santa Barbara County. The plan calls for protecting 34,000 acres of the salamander's breeding ponds and adjacent uplands.

"With a recovery plan we can fight threats like habitat destruction that have pushed these animals to the brink of extinction," said the Center's Jenny Loda. "This plan gives us hope for one of our most imperiled salamanders." Read more.

Abutilon menziesii

Study: Endangered Species Short-changed by Congress

A new Center study revealed this week that the amount of money the U.S. Congress gives the Fish and Wildlife Service for recovery of endangered species is just 3.5 percent of what is needed. Our analysis of federal recovery plans shows that the agency needs 28 times what it currently gets if species are going to be fully recovered.

The new report also urges a $125 million infusion into emergency "extinction prevention programs" for Hawaiian plants; snails, butterflies and mussels in the Southeast; and fish in the Southwest.

"The Endangered Species Act has saved more than 99 percent of species under its protection," said Noah Greenwald, the Center's endangered species director. "Tragically, the Trump administration will doubtless move to cut funds for endangered species even further."

Read more in our press release.

Bald eagle

Rep. Bishop's Intentions: Kill the Endangered Species Act

At a recent House hearing, Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) admitted, "I would be happy to invalidate the Endangered Species Act." This came during the debate over yet another bill to weaken the Act, this time by rolling back protections for endangered salmon and the Delta smelt.

The Center has been fighting back Bishop's unprecedented attack on endangered species since he became chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee two years ago.

"All Bishop has ever wanted is to let our precious wildlife disappear for the sake of profit," said the Center's Brett Hartl.

Read more and watch Bishop's statement in our press release.

Stephanie Feldstein

"Bring on the imperfect, the ugly and the just plain weird-looking produce. Curvaceous cucumbers, crooked carrots, pockmarked potatoes and asymmetrical apples add character to your kitchen, and they help fight food waste."

—Stephanie Feldstein, Population and Sustainability Director. Read more.

Red wolf pups

Petition Seeks Better Plan to Save Red Wolves

As the population of wild red wolves is rapidly declining -- with their management still determined by a recovery plan 26 years old -- the Center and allies petitioned the Fish and Wildlife Service for an updated plan to bring the wolves back from the brink.

Since their 1990 recovery plan, wild red wolves have expanded their range and now face additional threats -- which our petition provides strategies to address, including reducing shootings, boosting genetic diversity and more.

"The red wolf can still be saved," said the Center's Collette Adkins. "A new recovery plan would outline all the steps to ensure that future generations may see this beautiful wolf in the wild."

Read more in our press release.

Save the Weirdos logo

#SaveTheWeirdos

Canelo Hills Ladies' Tresses: Beautiful Introverts

EPA Restricts Use of Eight Pesticides to Protect Species

Utah prairie dog pup

The EPA took action last week that will protect endangered species, restricting eight pesticide products used in gas cartridges to kill burrowing animals.

The cartridges are widely used by farmers, rangers and Wildlife Services against animals like coyotes, red foxes and skunks. The cartridges, with fuses lit, are stuck into sealed burrows, toxic gases are released, and the animals within are asphyxiated.

The new restrictions are limited to areas inhabited by endangered gopher tortoises, Hualapai Mexican voles, Mount Graham red squirrels and Utah prairie dogs. Get more.

Jaguar

Wild & Weird: Spot the Difference Between Two Jaguars

When a jaguar popped up on a remote-sensing camera in the Huachuca mountains in southern Arizona recently, a stir of debate arose as to whether this was the famous jaguar El Jefe -- last seen roaming the Santa Rita mountains some 40 miles northwest -- or a new jaguar who'd migrated up from Mexico.

So how do we distinguish one jaguar from another? One way is by examining the jaguar's rosettes -- the dotted spots on their bodies -- which are uniquely patterned, like human fingerprints. To help with identification, biologists often pinpoint a rosette that looks like something memorable.

Take a look at our new graphics showing the left side-body of Arizona's two most recent known jaguar residents, along with some identifying rosettes -- enlarged and creatively interpreted -- to tell them apart.

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Photo credits: Arizona's new jaguar courtesy Arizona Game and Fish Department; street art by silverfuture/Flickr; California tiger salamander by ken-ichi/Flickr; Abutilon menziesii by scotnelson/Flickr; bald eagle courtesy George Gentry/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Stephanie Feldstein staff photo; red wolves by laura-kali/Flickr; Save the Weirdos logo courtesy Center for Biological Diversity; Utah prairie dog by mandj98/Flickr; jaguar by cuatrok77/Flickr.

Center for Biological Diversity
P.O. Box 710
Tucson, AZ 85702