The AZA SAFE team is excited to share that SAFE Ocelot's 2024-2027 inaugural program plan has been approved and is now published on the AZA website under the SAFE species page.
Ocelots (Leopardus pardalis) have a broad range extending from the southern United States southward through Central and South America, ending in northern Argentina and Uruguay. Through a synthesis of taxonomic, genetic and ecological data, ocelots are comprised of one northern (L. p. pardalis, southwestern US, Mexico, Central America) and one southern subspecies (L. p. mitis, South America), with "Texas ocelots" being the common name for a small subpopulation of the northern subspecies that inhabit southern Texas. Over the past 200 years, Texas ocelots have experienced significant declines, primarily due to habitat loss and fragmentation, with the only extant breeding population containing less than 120 cats in disjunct thornscrub habitat in southern Texas. During its three-year program plan, SAFE Ocelot's main goals are to provide its field partners in Texas with the necessary resources to propagate, rewild and reintroduce ocelots into historically occupied natural habitat on Texas ranchlands and help educate Texans in local communities about the Texas ocelot recovery program to raise awareness and engender support for continued ocelot conservation.
Dr. William Swanson, Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, leads the program and is supported by Vice Program Leader Laura Carpenter, also at Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, and Steering Committee members from Audubon Zoo, Greenville Zoo, Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden and San Antonio Zoo. Five other AZA-accredited institutions, external organizations and individual professionals provide critical knowledge as Program Partners and Advisors. Vital expertise and support are also supplied by SAFE Ocelot field partners: the East Foundation, Texas A&M University – Kingsville, Texas A&M Natural Resources Institute, Associação Mata Ciliar (Brazil), USFWS and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. In addition, the program is supported by its Wildlife Conservation Committee Liaison, Katie Hess, at ZooAmerica North American Wildlife Park. The Wildlife Conservation Committee worked with the SAFE Ocelot program, Conservation Education Committee, Felid Taxon Advisory Group, Ocelot SSP and AZA SAFE to review and approve the final plan.
AZA SAFE Ocelot Program Plan
