Posted By: jeffbird
$1,000 for Ocelot or Jaguarundi Photos - 10/28/20 12:25 AM
I am tired of seeing the wildlife and wild areas of Texas vanish in front of my eyes, so trying to do what I can to protect the best of what's left.
I am involved with studying cats on a few ranches in South Texas, two of which have evidence of Jaguarundis with a few photos, but which are not super crisp, and one ranch has ocelot photos.
I'll pay $1,000 for photos of ocelots from ranches not already known to have them, or for Jaguarundis, in Texas that withstand scrutiny and review by my cat experts and the USFWS cat biologists. It will need to be a photo file with the metadata available on the file to make sure there has been no alteration. The person submitting the photo will need to provide a sworn affidavit to back up the photo as to date, location, and that the photo has not been altered.
The money is just coming out of my pocket for my effort to save the best wildlife habitat left in South Texas. Obviously talking about wild animals. So, no wise guys taking photos in the zoo or cats at the wildlife refuges or from ranches already known to have them.
Game camera photos are fine and very acceptable.
If a ranch thinks they may have them, I have over 40 professional grade cameras available to use, which I will be happy to run and monitor to try to help landowners who want to protect their Ocelots or Jaguarundis and potentially help them benefit financially from protecting the cats.
Ocelots are in the genus Leopardus, our own Texas leopards.
This is an ocelot as the population from Tamaulipas appears, which is what occurs in South Texas:
Below is a photo of a Jaguarundi. They also occur with a reddish color, which is the second photo.
Note the rounded tops of the ears compared to pointed ears on house cats.
There is potentially very substantial financial benefit to ranch owners with Jaguarundis or Ocelots in Texas.
I do believe the constant sprinkle of "black panther" reports actually are Jaguarundis and they are here, but elusive.
Red form of the Jaguarundi
I am involved with studying cats on a few ranches in South Texas, two of which have evidence of Jaguarundis with a few photos, but which are not super crisp, and one ranch has ocelot photos.
I'll pay $1,000 for photos of ocelots from ranches not already known to have them, or for Jaguarundis, in Texas that withstand scrutiny and review by my cat experts and the USFWS cat biologists. It will need to be a photo file with the metadata available on the file to make sure there has been no alteration. The person submitting the photo will need to provide a sworn affidavit to back up the photo as to date, location, and that the photo has not been altered.
The money is just coming out of my pocket for my effort to save the best wildlife habitat left in South Texas. Obviously talking about wild animals. So, no wise guys taking photos in the zoo or cats at the wildlife refuges or from ranches already known to have them.
Game camera photos are fine and very acceptable.
If a ranch thinks they may have them, I have over 40 professional grade cameras available to use, which I will be happy to run and monitor to try to help landowners who want to protect their Ocelots or Jaguarundis and potentially help them benefit financially from protecting the cats.
Ocelots are in the genus Leopardus, our own Texas leopards.
This is an ocelot as the population from Tamaulipas appears, which is what occurs in South Texas:
Below is a photo of a Jaguarundi. They also occur with a reddish color, which is the second photo.
Note the rounded tops of the ears compared to pointed ears on house cats.
There is potentially very substantial financial benefit to ranch owners with Jaguarundis or Ocelots in Texas.
I do believe the constant sprinkle of "black panther" reports actually are Jaguarundis and they are here, but elusive.
Red form of the Jaguarundi