New Hope for Ocelots in Texas

People do not think of ocelots (Leopardus pardalis) as being native to Texas and southwest, but they hang on to existence in two small populations on the Texas Gulf Coast. Once ranging accross the southwest, less than 100 individuals survive in the wild. It is inevitable that such a small population is beginning to suffer from inbreeding. There is hope for rescuing the small wildcat from oblivion. There is an ambitious agreement between the US Fish & Wildlife Service, conservationists and local landowners to reintroduce cats bred in captivity to suitable habitat. A 75 acre patch of suitable habitat exists to the west of current population, which would insure survival of the species in the event of a catastrophic storm killing off ocelots living along the coast. [map] The new location also would free reintroduced cats from encircling human development. The reintroduction would take place on private land in the absence of protected wildlife refuges. This condition requires the cooperation of landowners in the area. The reintroduction project grew out of a decade intense study of the feline in the wild.

The two current wild populations live in two separate locations. The larger population lives on the El Sauz Ranch, and the smaller in the Laguna Atacosta Wildlife Refuge. The Laguna Atacosta population has suffered from road collisions, and the two groups no longer interbreed, which threatens the species survival The possibility of breeding with Mexican ocelots is also problematic due to human development and construction of more boarder wall. [photo credit: Fin & Fur Films]

Reintroduction will rely on the Eastman Foundation that owns the El Sauz Ranch and the 150,000 acre San Antonio Viejo Ranch, the proposed reintroduction site. The Cesar Kleberg Reserach Institute at Texas A&M University will provide the habitat conservation and breeding expertise. The federal government provided a $12.2 contract to operate the breeding program. Ocelots will come from zoos, and perhaps in the future, from wild Mexican specimens to improve genetic diversity. Captive breed animals have one drawback, the lack of wild mothers to teach cubs how to survive. To date only one reintroduction of small felines from captive breeding has been successful: Iberian lynx in Spain and Portugal

Lack of suitable habitat, thorn scrub, is constricting factor to successful reintroduction of the native wildcat. The two existing population have good habitat, but the islands are cut off by roads, development and the South Texas Sand Sheet to the north.  The 3,000 square miles of dunes and grasslands [yellow on the map] is too open for the cats to live there.  To the west of the sand sheet lies the San Antonio Viejo Ranch contains large tracts of thorn scrub with potential for ocelots to expand deeper into their former range, even to Mexico.  Obstacles exist to such expansion, not the least of which is the border wall that may cut off access altogether in the future. Texas began its own wall building program dubbed "Operation Lodestar".  Private funding also exists for private landowners to contribute their walls to a continuous barrier that does not stop migrants, but does stop migrating wildlife. ecently, Biden waived 26 federal environmental and historical preservation rules to permit further construction in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, becoming the first Democratic president to do so.  Sprawling Brownsville and McAllen also prevent ocelots from expanding to the south, except for a hard fought coastal corridor. Because acquiring land for a border wall requires condemnation in most case, building a wall on existing border reserves is a cheaper alternative.

If the USFWS can engender private landowner cooperation there is still a lot of suitable habitat to the west of the lower Rio Grand Valley particularly between Laredo and Del Rio.  Conservationists should not give up on the idea of connecting Mexican and American wild habitat for preserving species like the ocelot.