See our letters (click below) to the US Department of Homeland Security and to the Governor of Arizona on border fencing that would harm the jaguar.
Please back these up with your own…(and send us a copy or post them to this blog)… Let ‘em hear our collective roar for the jaguar!
Michael Chertoff, Secreatary of the US Department of Homeland Security chertoff_letter6-27-08
US Customs and Border Patrol us-customs_letter6-30-08
Governor Napolitano of Arizona letter-to-az-governor6-27-08
This photo is of the newly constructed border wall in the Altar Valley, adjacent to the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge (NWR). It is approx. 7 miles long. 
There is a resident jaguar in the adjacent Baboquivari Mountains, and there have been numerous verified sightings of jaguars in the San Luis Mountains and on the Buenos Aires NWR over the past decade or so. This wall, and others like it that are imminent, obviously pose a threat to transboundary movement of this magnificent cat and its ability to re-establish in the US portion of its historic range.
You can link to a related CNN story with video: http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/05/05/jaguars.fence/index.html
Matt Clark
Southwest Representative
Defenders of Wildlife
June 24, 2008
Dear Friends,
The jaguar, one of the most beautiful animals on Earth, still roams our borderlands! But precious few remain. The sobering truth is that the great cat can only make a comeback and reclaim its historic range in the American Southwest if people protect the wild and open country it needs. That obviously is a tremendous challenge now that Arizona is the fastest growth state in the US.
My involvement with jaguar began about 15 years ago when I asked the US Fish and Wildlife Service to place the species on the domestic list of endangered wildlife. Since then I’ve worked to have state and federal wildlife agencies fulfill their responsibilities for protecting jaguar habitat so that population recovery would be possible.
Unfortunately, it is now clear that the agencies regard the jaguar as “politically too hot” and may never get around to protecting jaguar habitat.
So it is up to citizens like you and I to act if we want the jaguar back!
This blog will focus on threats to jaguar habitat and on opportunities to protect and restore it. It will help us advocate for science-based measures to conserve jaguar habitat with county officials, natural resource agencies, border authorities, land managers, community organizations, elected officials, the media, and others.
The Jaguar Habitat Campaign, which hosts this blog, is about protecting jaguar habitat in the US. It’s also about helping to conserve our rural environment and surrounding wild lands. As such it will contribute to broader efforts to conserve ecologically intact landscapes in the Southwest.
Asia has its tiger and Africa its lion – right here at home the jaguar is our big cat to protect and restore!
Please help by volunteering your skills and/or support. I invite you to contact me at tpovilitis@lifenetnature.org
Tony Povilitis, Ph.D.
