In late December an aficionado of wildlife caught a stunning image of an adult jaguar prowling the Huachuca Mountains via his remote trail camera. About a month earlier the same cat had been photographed in the semi-connected Whetstone Mountains to the North.
Thinking about that wild felid, I began to ruminate on Earth’s mega-predators. While in other parts of the globe such deliberations might include reptiles (crocodilians, Komodo dragons, a few species of huge snakes) and fish (various sharks), here in southeast Arizona our topic is confined to mammals—the coyote can perhaps be included, along with black bear, mountain lion and, of course, the very rare jaguar.
As the ever-growing human population—now crushingly large at 8.1 billion people—taxes our fragile planet with its finite resources, often the first species to vanish from the landscape are mega-predators. In the not-so-distant 1800s, Arizona was home to a breeding population of jaguars, as well as healthy numbers of both Mexican wolves and Mexican grizzly bears. How quickly things have changed.
Given their position at the apex of various food chains, such large predators often require far too much wild land in an increasingly anthropogenically altered world. We have transformed beasts that once served as symbols of nobility and strength into villains and ecological boogeymen who commit unsanctioned acts against our own enterprises. A wolf pack mugging a cow. A mountain lion menacing a lone hiker. A black bear having the audacity to raid a cabin for its food. Criminals one and all, with news headlines bearing witness to their offenses. Yet, the larger violation surely would be the continued diminishment of such toothy beasts until—as in so many corners of the Earth today—they become mere memories.
Why should we care about species that can and occasionally will attack us, as well as threaten our industry? One compelling reason is that their presence indicates a high level of ecological health. Given the extreme degradation of various habitats on the Earth, at large and also within our own Sky Islands region, mega-predators represent an ongoing source of environmental hope. If they are still here, then surely the species they consume and most other ones lower on the food chain still have a decent shot of thriving.
The aforementioned jaguar validates all of our conservation efforts to date. It continues to stitch together a living from our remaining habitats and wildlife corridors.
A second and perhaps equally valid role that these ferocious fauna serve is to keep us in our place. A temporary check on our egos.
Having been up close and personal with cougars, coyotes, black bears and American alligators (among others), I can attest to the alteration of my heartbeat and the transformation of my mind. In such circumstances, if I don’t play my cards right, I might well become another flavor of meat. Scary? Perhaps. Thrilling and transcendental? Absolutely! I’ve never been more alive than at such moments.
Truth is, the danger to humans from these flesh-eating creatures is often highly overblown. Wild carnivores tend to avoid our troublesome presence like the proverbial plague. Whenever we rarely spot them, they usually are hightailing it in the opposite direction.
Rather than suffer a continued depletion of our mega-predator populations, I advocate for more stringent protection of our still wild and semi-wild landscapes. Livestock grazing pressure, mining, large-scale agriculture, and other sources of habitat destruction must be reined in. More land must be protected as federal wilderness. Our backyards should contain good habitat for native species. The paradigm of use and abuse must stop in an effort to salvage our still high levels of biodiversity in the Sky Islands.
I even envision a near future when Mexican wolves radiate out from their White Mountains/Gila stronghold to reclaim long-lost territory in our corner of the state. Elk have expanded out from that very region, bolstering prey populations that support our local mega-predators. In the same way, a return of grizzly bear to the Sky Islands would be an ecological coup, once again allowing us to claim a “complete ecosystem” with few or no missing species.
Such areas of the globe with these bragging rights are, not surprisingly, tourist hotspots. Thus, the final reason to protect and allow large carnivores to flourish is tourism dollars. We can strive to emulate the thriving nature-based tourism in Yellowstone with all its toothy creatures. A lucrative and hair-raising prospect, all in one fell, carnivorous swoop!
Vincent Pinto and his wife, Claudia, run RAVENS-WAY WILD JOURNEYS LLC, their Nature Adventure & Conservation organization devoted to protecting and promoting the unique biodiversity of the Sky Islands region. RWWJ offers a wide variety of private, custom-made courses, birding & biodiversity tours. Visit ravensnatureschool.org