The jaguars will be repatriated to the southwestern United States by conservation organizations and university researchers.
According to experts, without human intervention, given the loss of habitat, highways and boundary walls, the animals are unlikely to reappear naturally, according to the science publishing portal Phys.org.
The jaguar currently lives in 19 countries, but biologists say the animals have lost more than half of their historic area from South and Central America to the southwestern United States due to hunting and habitat destruction.
A single male animal has been seen in Arizona and New Mexico over the past 20 years, but there is no evidence that breeding pairs have established northern Mexico regions for themselves. They recently saw a male predator south of the border and another in Arizona in January.
Scientists and staff from a number of animal welfare organizations and institutes say there are more than 82,400 square miles in the mountains of central Arizona and New Mexico, home to 90 to 150 jaguars.
The reintroduction of the big cats is critical to the conservation of the species and the restoration of the ecosystem in the area.
(phys.org/MTI)
