Lawsuit Settled To Protect Endangered Ocelot In Southern Arizona
Environmentalists fighting to protect the endangered Ocelot agreed this week to settle a lawsuit against the federal government.
When biologists first filed the lawsuit against the federal Fish and Wildlife Service last year, they estimated fewer than 100 ocelots lived in the U.S.
About twice the size of a house cat, it's too small to prey on large livestock, but big enough to get caught in federally sanctioned predator traps.
Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Fish and Wildlife Services agreed to both revisit and enact new programs to better protect the endangered cat.
Scientist and attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity Collette Adkins said the agreement does not specifically block predator trapping where ocelots live.
But, she said, the agreement should help scientists track what appears to be a growing population of ocelots in Arizona.
“Recent sightings of ocelots show that it’s expanding its range within the Huachuca Mountains and the Santa Ritas,” she explained.
Environmentalists are worried leg hold traps, snares and poisons intended for controlling coyotes are killing the ocelot and other smaller animals.
“We just want to make sure Wildlife Service doesn’t use any methods that are indiscriminate where they could catch ocelot,” Adkins said.
Since 2009, there were only five sightings of the elusive wild cats, one was found dead on a roadway near Globe.
