Literature Review and Classification of Jaguar (Panthera onca) Records from Arizona and New Mexico Edited By Cindy Coping, Pima NRCD March 17, 2017 “The native mammals of a State are one of its valuable assets; they figure largely in aiding pioneer settlement and development and, if wisely used and guarded, form a no less valuable source of revenue and recreation for the most highly developed sections of the country. On the other hand, predatory and crop-destroying species have caused a constant struggle on the part of residents from the time of the early settlers up to the present for the protection of their flocks, herds, and crops. Only recently, with the knowledge gained by years of study of the relationships of the species of mammals, of their characteristics, distribution, and habits, and of the methods of effectively protecting them or of controlling their abundance, has it been possible to solve many of the problems that will mean the greatest good to the greatest number of people in the State. Even with the necessary knowledge at hand nothing can be effectively done toward the protection, utilization, or control of the wild life without a full understanding of the facts and the full cooperation of those most vitally concerned-the resident population.” –Vernon Bailey (Bailey, 1931, pp. 4- 5) Abstract In reviewing the 2012 Draft Jaguar Recovery Plan, Dennis Parker and I found many inconsistencies and inaccuracies in the cited literature. We then attempted to obtain and examine the primary, original record for each jaguar killed in New Mexico and Arizona, and compare it to citations in the literature for accuracy. This paper is an update on that work. It incorporates new knowledge about previously reviewed records, adds several previously undocumented records and updates and improves summary tables. In general, Brown (1983) and Brown and Lopez-Gonzales (2000, 2001) have been widely cited, their information has been incorporated into numerous models of jaguar presence and habitat, and their datasets formed the primary alleged justification for both the endangered species listing and critical habitat designation for the jaguar in Arizona and New Mexico. Additional records, contributed by other authors, are also reviewed. Our examination and comparison of cited datasets to primary documentation for such reveals that many questions, inconsistencies, omissions, inaccuracies and discrepancies exist among them. Noted flaws fatally compromise their reliability of use for either scientifically credible modeling or foundation purposes. Nonetheless, these datasets form the core input for modeling of alleged jaguar decline and suitable habitat purposes. Jaguar presence and decline in the United States since 1900 has been modeled by Brown (1983) and McCain and Childs (2008). Habitat models have been developed by Menke and Hayes (2003), Hatten et al. (2002), Hatten et al. (2005), Boydston and Lopez- 2017 Literature Review and Classification of Jaguar (Panthera onca) Records Gonzales (2005), Robinson et al. (2006), McCain and Childs (2008), Grigione et al. (2009), Sanderson and Fisher (2013), and Stoner et al. (2015). Additionally, the USFWS (2014) designation of critical habitat for the jaguar (Federal Register at 12579 et seq.) (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2014) relied on the databases of Sanderson and Fisher (2013) and McCain and Childs (2008 and entire and unpublished data), to falsely allege that distance to water for jaguars was computed from a database of 130 “undisputed” Class I reports of jaguar locations in the United States since the time the species was listed. (77 FR 161 at 50221). The Draft Jaguar Recovery Plan relies on Stoner et al. (2015), which employs the unpublished and unverifiable dataset for Sanderson and Fisher (2013). The entire jaguar recovery program for the United States thus relies on fatally compromised datasets for alleged scientific support. Therefore, each historical jaguar record is examined and vetted herein for its reliability. Proper FOIA requests submitted to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and a proper Public Records request submitted to the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD), unfortunately, did not result in our obtaining all of the information and jaguar records requested. Therefore, this review of the historic record of jaguar kills and sightings in Arizona and New Mexico may be updated again in the future if information becomes available. Our findings on many records differ with the data USFWS is using. The data and research presented here are better researched, more accurate, in many cases closer to the original source and more complete than the records reported at jaguarinfo.com, the new USFWS record- keeping system. Reliable records for New Mexico and Arizona are tabulated in Table 1 with an accompanying histogram of reliable jaguar records per decade. Two additional, separate tables accompany this document. Table 2 compares how various researchers evaluated the reliability of each record. Table 3 shows which records were used in modeling jaguar sexual differences and modeling jaguar habitat. Table of Contents Literature Review and Classification of Jaguar (Panthera onca) Records from Arizona and New Mexico .................................................................................................................. 1 Abstract ............................................................................................................................................................. 1 Record-By-Record Examination of Jaguar Presence in the Southwest In Chronological Order ..... 6 1500-1800 A.D.: No reliable evidence of Jaguar presence exists. ............................................................ 6 August 1540, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado: Unverifiable evidence of Jaguar presence ......... 6 Arguments as to Whether Jaguars Preceded Livestock and Vice-Versa in the United States ...... 6 1800-1900 A.D.: Reliable eyewitnesses indicated that Jaguars were very rare in Arizona and New Mexico. ..................................................................................................................................................................... 7 A Review Of Post-1900 Jaguar Occurrence Records in the U.S. ................................................................ 10 New Mexico Jaguar Occurrences ....................................................................................................................................... 10 April 10, 1825, Convent of San Francisco in Santa Fe, Argentina ................................................................. 10 *Around 1855, Sierra Madre Mountains, Weyss .................................................................................................. 11 *Late 1800’s, Caballo Mts., Burch ................................................................................................................................ 12 * May 1900, Taylor Creek, Socorro Co., Robert Nelson “Nat Straw” ............................................................ 14 December 9, 1900, Engle, New Mexico, Louis O. Morris ................................................................................... 15 Dec. 11, 1900, Dan O’Shea, W. of Mountains between Engle and Las Palomas, NM ............................. 16 About May 25, 1901, Luna County, John Cravens ................................................................................................ 16 1902, “Otero” NM Jaguar ................................................................................................................................................. 18 2 2017 Literature Review and Classification of Jaguar (Panthera onca) Records *August 1902, Datil Mountains, Mrs. Manning ..................................................................................................... 18 *San Andres and Sacramento Mountains, before, 1903, Page Otero 3rd hand reports ........................ 20 *1903, Clanton Canyon, Peloncillo Mountains, Burchfield .............................................................................. 20 *Summer 1903, San Miguel County, S. of Fulton, Page Otero, 3rd hand report ...................................... 21 *1904-1905, Sierra de los Caballos, NM, Morris .................................................................................................. 21 *1909 Dog Springs, SE of Animas Mts., NM, male, per Ben Lilly .................................................................... 23 *“Around 1916,” “near” Little Hatchet Mountains .............................................................................................. 23 *Springer, “Some years prior to 1938,” Phillips, unreliable ............................................................................ 24 *1937, San Andres Range, NM, Bannerman sighting .......................................................................................... 25 *1990, Observation, no physical evidence, Larry Link ...................................................................................... 25 *8/25/1990; Black Range; Observation; no physical evidence; Dr. Gerald Jacobi ................................ 26 *April 19, 1995; Hidalgo County, Peloncillo Mountains, Bryan Starret ..................................................... 27 *March 7, 1996, Peloncillo Mountains, male, Warner Glenn, photographed, videotaped ................. 28 *Fall 1998, Tom and Boe Duffy, San Francisco River of Gila Forest, unreliable ..................................... 29 *May 10,