ALBUQUERQUE, March 5 (UPI) -- Some 764, 207 acres of critical habitat will be set aside to protect endangered jaguars in the borderlands of New Mexico and Arizona. The move was announced yesterday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Over the last several years, only one jaguar has been spotted in the area, which consists of Pima, Santa Cruz and Cochise counties in Arizona, and Hidalgo County in New Mexico. But the newly protected mountain ranges used to feature more of the majestic predators, biologists say, and a healthy jaguar population has been documented across the border in Mexico.