Jaguar caught on Arizona trail camera, bringing known U.S. population to two

SIERRA VISTA, Ariz., Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Wildlife experts said a previously unknown jaguar caught on an Arizona trail camera is the second-known member of its species living in the United States.

The nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity said the young male jaguar was photographed by a Fort Huachuca trail camera in the Huachuca Mountains, near Sierra Vista, and the picture was posted to Facebook by the Cochise County Boy Scouts of America.

The center said the jaguar is the first confirmed member of its species in the Huachucas and only the second confirmed jaguar in the United States after a mature male dubbed El Jefe was captured on video about a year ago.

"We've been expecting another jaguar to pop up in southern Arizona for some time now," said Randy Serraglio, conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. "Congratulations to Fort Huachuca for their good luck in capturing this beautiful animal on film."

The center said the formerly thriving U.S. jaguar population was wiped out over the past century by predator control programs.

"Jaguars will keep returning to southern Arizona to repopulate their ancestral homelands," Serraglio said. "Jaguars belong here, and if we protect the wide-open spaces they need, they will thrive here again. El Jefe has proven that."