Jaguar sighted southeast of Tucson by hunter over weekend

[Kali]

TUCSON - A jaguar was sighted by a hunter southeast of Tucson Saturday - Arizona Game and Fish Department officials confirmed the report after DNA-sampling hair found in the area.

AZGFD received the report at about 9 a.m. on Saturday, November 19, from an experienced hunter using dogs to hunt mountain lions. The dogs pursued the animal, which the hunter found 15 feet up a mesquite tree, according to a news release from the department.

Based on the images, the AZGFD's biologists believe the jaguar is an adult male, about 200 pounds, and in good, health condition. They will compare this jaguar to other recently-spotted jaguars to determine if the animal has been spotted already.

http://www.kvoa.com/news/jaguar-sighted-southeast-of-tucson-by-hunter-over-weekend/

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Favor please?

this article has a pic of a Game and Fish officer looking at a mesquite tree, can I ask anybody with a faster connection and curiosity about this to post any other pictures you find about this particular story on other news sites? I'm on dial-up and news sites take forever to load. (took more than 5 minutes for this to come up) I hate to waste time on repetitions of the same text and picture so thanks in advance if you find anything about the hunter or other pictures. I have a very local interest in this story.

[babylonsister]

1. Here's the ranger pic, but if I see any jaguar pix, will post for you...

[whistler162]

7. This site has a bunch

http://www.jaguar.com/us/en/ :}

[Kali]

8. are they from this story or old ones?

I'm having even worse connectivity problems than usual this morning arrrggggg

[Kali]

9. thanks!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. I was just reading an article in the Arizona Daily Star.

The article said the state wildlife people have seen the photos taken by the hunter but they are still in the hunter's possession. They will post photos later when they have them:

"Based on the photos and video, Game and Fish officials described the jaguar as an adult male that appeared healthy and weighed about 200 pounds. Game and Fish biologists went to the sighting location to verify that the photos and videos were taken there, Hart said.

"It all checked out," Hart said. "We started at the exact same point where they (the photos and video) were shot. We saw tree branches where they were supposed to be, and they absolutely looked the same as in the photos. We counted about 10 marks of claws where a large animal had climbed the tree."

The biologists also collected hair samples from the area for possible DNA testing.

Game and Fish officials said they saw the photos and video in the hunter's possession, but don't have their own copies yet to release publicly."

Read more: http://azstarnet.com/news/local/jaguar-seen-in-area-of-cochise/article_c41a3138-c50e-5bdc-a5d0-c26d5ff503bb.html#ixzz1eRtKHF7L

[Kali]

12. thanks

seems the text versions of this are pretty similar

this is pretty exciting!

[WCGreen]

3. Someone spotted a big cat out in the far east burbs of Cleveland

They had to warn the people to be on the lookout.

Nature has a way of adapting.

[Tansy_Gold]

4. Wonderful news! n/t

[gejohnston]

5. I only found that the hunter

provided AZGFD with pics, but I don't see those pic published anywhere.

http://tucsoncitizen.com/wryheat/2011/11/21/jaguar-sighted-near-tucson/

[firehorse]

6. I hope the hunters don't kill it for a trophy

the article says its a male and that there are a couple more, but not enough to support a breeding population

[Kali]

11. if they did they wouldn't be able to show it to anybody

no respectable hunter would kill it

I may know who it was, had a phone call this morning about this. There is a teeny tiny fraction of a percent of a chance this might have happened here.

[Kali]

10. found a little better article

http://tucsoncitizen.com/wryheat/2011/11/21/jaguar-sighted-near-tucson/

<snip>

Game and Fish categorizes the report as a Class I-10, meaning the report is considered verifiable or highly probable, and visual or physical evidence is provided and confirmed.

The report was initially received on Saturday, Nov. 19 at 9 a.m. from an experienced hunter using dogs to hunt mountain lions. The dogs pursued an animal the hunter ultimately deemed was a jaguar. The animal was treed approximately 15 feet up in a mesquite tree, and the hunter was able to obtain photographs and video. After photographing the jaguar, the hunter quickly left the area with his dogs and observed from a distant point. The jaguar remained treed for approximately 15 minutes and then headed south.

<snip>

Four of the last five confirmed jaguar sightings in Arizona have been reported by hunters, who all took responsible action to document the animal, report it to Game and Fish, and remove their dogs from the area once the animal was identified as a jaguar. These hunters have provided biologists with critical information that may not otherwise be known, information that will help increase the understanding of the species’ existence in the borderland area.

more:

http://tucsoncitizen.com/wryheat/2011/11/21/jaguar-sighted-near-tucson/

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

13. How cool to have a 200-lb. kitteh wandering around...

We get occasional puma sightings around here but those guys aren't nearly as big.

Still, I like the idea that there are big wild cats out in the woods.

[The Doctor.]

14. Here are some perfect specimens. (Don't think they're from the story);

Aren't they just magnificent?

[Kali]

15. got me!

:spank:

[Kali]

16. a pic and more details

"It's the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me," said Fenn, who leads hunters to mountain lions with his dogs. "To be honest with you - I got to see it in real life, my daughter got to see it, but I hope never to encounter it again.

"I was nervous, scared, everything. It was just the aggressiveness - the power it had, the snarling. It wasn't a snarl like a lion. It was a roar. I've never heard anything like it."

Fenn was thrilled as well as scared. He had never expected to see such a large, endangered cat so early in his life, at age 32, he said. A lifelong hunter and Benson resident, he runs the mountain lion guide service as a sideline while working full time in an excavating business. He described his one-hour encounter with the jaguar as "a dream come true."

<snip>

"All my dogs took a pretty good beating. They had puncture wounds. ... I got to see it in real life, and I'm glad, but I hope to never encounter it again," he repeated.

Read more: http://azstarnet.com/news/local/guide-describes-roaring-powerful-jaguar/article_2073df7a-4fb6-55bb-b1d9-20c521bc0e41.html#ixzz1eatVBzAd

[AnnieBW]

17. Are you sure that wasn't just Cindy McCain?

Oh, you said jaguar, not cougar. :D

[burrowowl]

18. Good News!

Don't put up any fucking fences on the border, it is detrimental to wildlife!

Repukes are arses!

[Kali]

19. pretty detrimental to human life too.