Jaguars once roamed across the United States from California to the Carolinas, but they were shot, trapped and slaughtered with such intensity that by the 1960s they were eradicated from the country.

Today, only one known wild jaguar survives in the U.S. — a lone male named Sombra.  

The absence of jaguars, from the wild and biodiverse ecosystems where they once lived is a heartbreaking and tragic reminder of what we’re losing as the extinction crisis worsens.

Though jaguars are now protected as an endangered species across their range, there is more we can do more to bring jaguars back to the Southwest. 

Scientists have identified a wide swath of habitat in Arizona and New Mexico — 20 million acres, or about 32,000 square miles — that could eventually support more than 100 jaguars. The Center petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reintroduce jaguars to the area and also vastly expand the cats' protected habitat.  

If jaguars are ever to have a viable population in the United States, we need to protect more of their most important habitat and actively reintroduce them. 

We are fighting to reintroduce these big cats to the desert mountain landscape where they belong. 

You can help: Sign the petition to tell the US Fish and Wildlife Service you support the jaguar's return.