Can the US reintroduce Jaguars?

OldNavy1988

Jiraiyathegallant said:
Here is a Reddit post going into certain details about just how widespread Jaguars likely were at one point.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Jaguarland/comments/oaglrg

Is there anyway Jaguars could be reintroduced to the US outside of a minor migrant population in the Southwest? Could we get a small number of them in say, Smoky Mountain National Park?
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The most feasible would be states that were formerly Spanish and later Mexican territory IOTL. Especially California and the Gadsden Purchase states.

Other than that, there's always Jacksonville by 1995.
 
Driftless

Driftless

Donor
Actually, I think its pretty tough for the US. Prime Jaguar habitat leans towards dense forest and swampy areas, which means the Louisiana bayous or Florida Everglades; both areas have significant human population.
 

Puzzle

Donor
Jiraiyathegallant said:
Could we get a small number of them in say, Smoky Mountain National Park?
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Do we really want them? I feel like it’s easy to sit in front of our laptops and talk about how cool it would be, but I think a few dead dogs, sheep and cows as they venture out will change minds. Having predator free wilderness is a pretty nice luxury, if we want dangerous large animals there’s always biker bars or their analogues.
 

Monk78

I was about to write “ when was jaguar ever used by USAF/USN? and why is it being considered in the presence of A-7 and A-4 ?”
 

Riain

Banned
Of course it could happen if it was done correctly.

The niche that the Jaguars would occupy isn't empty, it's occupied by animals that don't really belong there. In Yellowstone with the wolves it was coyotes, the wolves killed 90% of the coyotes first then set about thinning out the elk so the likes of beaver could get a chance to reestablish themselves. The southwest already has mountain lions and coyotes, so likely jaguars would push those out of previously jaguar held territory and become top cat in the southwest, the last places where it lived in the USA.

The beauty of the jaguar is that half the work is already being done. Since the 90s there are always wandering males in the US crossing from Mexico, so all the US would have to do it get a female placed in the few national parks in the southwest border regions and the wandering males will find them naturally.

The problem, as others have pointed out, is that deliberate reintroduction is bound to rub some people the wrong way and set up human political conflict which is bad for the jaguar. People will oppose it out of principle and shoot jaguars out of spite.
 

Snowstalker

It could be done easily. There would, however, be a lot of backlash from farmers and ranchers just as there has been for wolf reintroduction.
 
Driftless

Driftless

Donor
If the Jaguar gets re-introduced to the Southwest border states - the current limit of their range, then they probably further displace populations of mountain lions, jaguarundi, ocelot, and margay - none of which are plentiful in that environment.
 

Jiraiyathegallant

Driftless said:
If the Jaguar gets re-introduced to the Southwest border states - the current limit of their range, then they probably further displace populations of mountain lions, jaguarundi, ocelot, and margay - none of which are plentiful in that environment.
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"Just because you can do something, does not automatically mean its a good idea..."
 

Riain

Banned
Driftless said:
If the Jaguar gets re-introduced to the Southwest border states - the current limit of their range, then they probably further displace populations of mountain lions, jaguarundi, ocelot, and margay - none of which are plentiful in that environment.
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Certainly mountain lions which are not endangered, but I doubt that the smaller cats would be impacted negatively other than the ocelot. That's because the jaguar hunts different prey than these small species.

I say the ocelot because as the biggest small cat it might have expanded into the niche vacated by the jaguar. However it hasn't and indeed jaguar reintroduction would have to be managed to not clash with ocelot conservation in Texas.
 
Aghasverov

Aghasverov

Monk78 said:
I was about to write “ when was jaguar ever used by USAF/USN? and why is it being considered in the presence of A-7 and A-4 ?”
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I was just thinking, "I still see them in the wild, occasionally..." :p

photography-by-hemmings-archives (1).jpg
 

Arkenfolm

Jiraiyathegallant said:
Here is a Reddit post going into certain details about just how widespread Jaguars likely were at one point.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Jaguarland/comments/oaglrg

Is there anyway Jaguars could be reintroduced to the US outside of a minor migrant population in the Southwest? Could we get a small number of them in say, Smoky Mountain National Park?
Click to expand...
I suspect they were very, very rare by a few thousand years ago outside of the Southwest. The paper I found on the topic ("The Jaguar in North America" from 1974, which I'm assuming the Reddit post is referencing) seems to make a bit of a reach since Amerindian stories of "water panthers" or jaguar-esque big cats may be stories passed down from thousands of years and reinforced by sightings of strange-coloured cougars or trade with people who lived in areas jaguars were native (i.e. the Southwest), trade which may have included jaguar pelts, teeth, bones, etc. Although there may have been individual jaguars in the east at various times, especially during times when human populations migrated away from a given area or otherwise crashed (i.e. after 1600).

They also would compete with cougars, who still have small populations in these areas. In the Smoky Mountains, cougars are slowly returning, and there have even been sightings in relatively inhabited areas nearby. I suspect that cougars are better adapted for these environments in the post-megafauna area, hence why they thrived while jaguars died out.

So reintroduction would make most sense in lightly populated, mountainous areas of the Southwest. It's probably feasible in that area, and probably a good idea since jaguars still occasionally roam that area anyway.
 

Horton229

Whilst it is possible, it is not easy. The biggest issue will be opposition from various groups including farmers and locals who are tricked into believing they are dangerous - as I understand jaguars almost never attack people. Of course, almost never doesn't help if you are the one.
However, jaguars do not like to be close to humans. As such, there are few areas of contiguous habitat suitable for them, as they need reasonable size home ranges, and the ability to mingle to develop into a viable population. Their preferred habitat is dense forest and wetlands - they really like water. Not sure where the best location would be.

As a concept, I think re-wilding is really interesting. Having apex predators in the environment is a net positive and allows a much broader ecosystem to develop. The reintroduction of the beaver in the UK has significantly improved biodiversity in specific areas, but there are still those who wish to persecute them. The same goes with white-tailed eagles. I have been reading for a decade about 'plans' to reintroduce the lynx to Scotland, but I doubt it will happen any time soon.

Whilst it might be possible, I think vested interests will kill any official attempts to reintroduce jaguars.
 

DougM

The problem with high level predators is not the danger to hums but to livestock and pets. A large cat such as. Jaguar is much the same as Wolves. And you could pretty much look at the wolf population and reintroduction and file off the serial number to produce the story of bring back Jaguars.
In my state we have bobcats a much smaller cat the a Jaguar and we have farmers shooting them pretty regularly due to be a hazard.
We also have photos of a large black cat that often appears to be painter sized, that show up every couple years, To the best of my knowledge no one has ever figured that out and it has been going on to long to be the same cat.
So I suppose it is possible to have large cats that are unknown in a region,
But you are going to get lots of pushback if you reintroduced them.
It is not particularly logical but in my area we have ”everyone” being against large predators, thus we have a major overpopulation of White Tailed dear (or big brown locusts as I call them) that are causing issues. Living in cities, but at the same time “everyone “ is against culling/hunting the dear to control the population. In the meantime Mother Nature abhoRS a vacuumed so out coyotes are getting more and more numerous and are getting larger. And frankly starting to act more and more like Wolves. But they have had almost 200 years of few/no wolfs in the state so they have been pretty much the top predator.
So my point is that getting the population and or the farmers to truly understand the reality of an eco system and the need for predators is next to impossible. And even those that like the idea will turn on it as soon as it affects them in any adverse way.
And you will NEVER convince you average person that a Jaguar is not realy dangerous to humans. Too many tv and movies show them as dangerous. Look at the bad reputation of Wolves. Most people think they will hunt humans given the chance and almost no actual evidence of wolves attacking humans exist.
 
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