Sky Island Alliance Return of the Jaguar

A team of scientists and volunteers at the University of Arizona’s Wild Cat Research and Conservation Center have recorded five sightings of one male jaguar so far this summer, including the detections above. The big cat has been observed in multiple southern Arizona locations south of Tucson.

The remarkable news from the University of Arizona’s Wild Cat Research and Conservation Center of the jaguar’s return to Arizona this week is a powerful reminder of how the Sky Island region is a continental crossroads where both tropical and temperate species intermix. The variety of climates and ecosystems nestled on our mountain slopes provide refuge to many, and these mountains call to big animals like jaguars. The paths these animals take are often mysterious, and I shudder when I think about how many obstacles and dangers they must encounter as they walk between Mexican and American mountains.

The timing of this jaguar’s entry into Arizona hits many of us hard, given that border wall construction is beginning across 27 miles of prime wildlife corridor in southeast Arizona’s San Rafael Valley. The border is being treated as a lawless zone where the Endangered Species Act and dozens of other federal laws and statutes can be simply ignored. With the authority currently granted to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary to waive laws, border construction is now proceeding at a breakneck pace without environmental planning and mitigation, without concern for irreplaceable sacred cultural sites, and without meaningful public input in the process.

While this fills me often with despair, I always try to remember one thing: walls can come down. The jaguar is our reminder of why we’re here documenting the wildlife corridors that the border wall is severing, why we must continue to educate officials on the need to create more openings for species to move, and why we must keep the story alive of how the borderlands make this region so great because of their historic pathways. We can’t allow our friends and neighbors to forget how important it is to create connections between Mexico and the U.S. — even if the wall is finished, especially if the wall is finished. Remember the awe you feel hearing about a jaguar’s return today, and let’s keep that inner fire burning to fight for better days ahead at the border.