Humans and History

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The jaguar's range once extended into Texas and even Louisiana and California (FWS, 2016). But due to changing climate and human activity over many years, their northern terrain is now marginal in terms of water, cover, and prey densities (Rabinowitz n.d.). Allusive as they may be, they bear a great responsibility in maintaining balance in their ecosystem as a top predator. The U.S. population of jaguars has been severely eroded over the last decade (Rizzo, 2005). Its current range in the U.S. includes only three counties in Arizona, and one in New Mexico. There was even a long period of time when no jaguars at all were seen in the United States. Not a single individual was known to exist in the country that the species once thrived in. 

 

Jaguars were once a symbol of power and strength in mesoamerican cultures (New World Encyclopedia, 2014). The Mayans believed they facilitated communication between the living and dead. The Olmec developed a “were-jaguar” motif of sculptures and figurines. The Aztec portrayed jaguars as rulers and warriors (New World Encyclopedia, 2014). But over time perception changed and the jaguar lost it's position as a well respected figure. Every human, now, has played a detrimental role in the lives and wellbeing of the jaguar. In 1963, the last known female jaguar in the United States was legally shot and killed by a hunter. Two years later, the last legally hunted jaguar in Arizona was killed by a deer hunter. These killings did not break any laws, despite the desperateness of the species. In 1969, Arizona luckily outlawed most jaguar hunting, with no know females left in the U.S. and little hope of recovery. However, over the next 25 years, only two jaguars were documented in the US and both were killed: a large male was shot in 1971 near the Santa Cruz River by two teenage duck hunters and another male was cornered by hounds in the Dos Cabezas Mountains in 1986 (Rizzo, 2005). 

 

The legal protection that existed for these animals did nothing to keep them safe. The hunters that killed these individuals destroyed the sliver of hope that remained for a recovery any time soon. Although those individual hunters aren’t solely responsible if the species never recovers in America, they certainly played an enormous role that made an already terrible and difficult situation worse. Jaguars don’t intentionally hurt humans; in fact, they are usually scared of humans and do all that they can to avoid encounters. But hope has rebounded for the jaguar in the U.S. when a hunter turned researcher discovered a jaguar named Macho A and later another, called Macho B (Rizzo, 2005). Education and thorough understanding of the species is growing but is still absent in many places. But programs exist that can help to bridge that educational gap and you can help!