The fifth confirmed Arizona ocelot sighting in two years was reported Friday by the chairman of the Arizona Game and Fish Commission.
Chairman Robert R. Woodhouse said at a commission meeting that the state Game and Fish Department had confirmed a new ocelot sighting report in southeastern Arizona on Friday. The ocelot is listed as an endangered species in the United States.
A Game and Fish officer investigating a report from another source found tracks and received several images that helped the department determine this was a verified ocelot report. More specific details about the cat and where it was found were not available late Friday.
Two other ocelot sightings occurred in February and May of this year in the Huachuca Mountains, while a dead ocelot was found near Globe in April 2010, Game and Fish officials have said.
In November 2009, remote cameras placed by the conservation group Sky Island Alliance photographed an ocelot in Cochise County. Until that sighting, no confirmed ocelot sightings had occurred in Arizona since 1964.
Read more: http://azstarnet.com/news/science/environment/th-ocelot-sighting-confirmed/article_bd63c811-1745-50f5-9786-98afc850c5a1.html#ixzz1ffC8QERU
Eds' note: However, here is update on that story:
Sighting was African cat, not ocelot
TUCSON, AZ (KOLD) - After further review, the Arizona Game and Fish Department said the reported rare sighting of an ocelot was another breed of cat called a serval.
Chairman Robert R. Woodhouse said at a commission meeting that the state Game and Fish Department had confirmed a new ocelot sighting report in southeastern Arizona on Friday. The ocelot is listed as an endangered species in the United States.
A Game and Fish officer investigating a report from another source found tracks and received several images that helped the department determine this was a verified ocelot report. More specific details about the cat and where it was found were not available late Friday.
Two other ocelot sightings occurred in February and May of this year in the Huachuca Mountains, while a dead ocelot was found near Globe in April 2010, Game and Fish officials have said.
In November 2009, remote cameras placed by the conservation group Sky Island Alliance photographed an ocelot in Cochise County. Until that sighting, no confirmed ocelot sightings had occurred in Arizona since 1964.
Read more: http://azstarnet.com/news/science/environment/th-ocelot-sighting-confirmed/article_bd63c811-1745-50f5-9786-98afc850c5a1.html#ixzz1ffC8QERU
Eds' note: However, here is update on that story:
Sighting was African cat, not ocelot
TUCSON, AZ (KOLD) - After further review, the Arizona Game and Fish Department said the reported rare sighting of an ocelot was another breed of cat called a serval.
A serval is a popular African cat in the pet trade, the fish and game department said.
The Department uses a three-tiered classification system to rank reported sightings from the public based on the level of physical evidence available, the department said.
The presence of physical evidence such as scat, hair, tracks and/or photos and video can lead to a Class I designation of "verifiable" or "highly probable."
Read more here ...
No comments:
Post a Comment