Ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) Fact Sheet: Population & Conservation Status

Populations estimates

• No scientifically rigorous global estimates (Christopher Satter, personal communication, 2019)
  • Local population estimates and densities available for some regions
• Most abundant in Brazil and Argentina (IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group 2019)
• Much less common at higher latitudes — Mexico and the United States (US Fish & Wildlife Service 2010; Paviolo et al. 2015; IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group 2019)
• Population trend
  • Decreasing (Paviolo et al. 2015)

IUCN Status

• Least Concern (2014 assessment) (Paviolo et al. 2015)
  • Some populations are threatened and are decreasing

CITES Status

• Appendix I (UNEP 2019)
  • First listed in 1990 as Appendix I (no commercial trade)
  • Ocelots hunted by the millions until 1980s when international trade in skins was banned (Di Bittetti et al. 2006)

U.S. Endangered Species Act

• Endangered (Harwell & Siminski 1990)
  • Listed in 1982
  • Ocelot recovery plan penned in 2010 (Federal Register 2010)
    • USFWS program focused on cross-border management between the U.S. and Mexico (US Fish & Wildlife Service 2010)
      • Creates two management units; one in Texas and one in Arizona
        • Texas/Tamaulipas Management Unit (TTMU)
        • Arizona/Sonora Management Unit (ASMU)
  • In Texas: protected with Texas endangered species status (Campbell 2003)
    • Proposed conservation strategy to work with local landowners to improve ocelot habitat
    • Proposals to trans-locate individuals from Mexico or to create corridors to connect populations (Janecka et al. 2007)
  • In Arizona: protected since 1970 by Arizona Game and Fish Commission
    • All wild felids are designated as "prohibited wildlife" (Harwell & Siminski 1990)

AZA Species Survival Plan

• Created in 2011 (Kaemmerer et al. 2011)
  • Goal to maintain genetic diversity of the mitis subspecies population
  • Suggests additional Brazilian animals should be imported and artificial reproductive methods be used to increase breeding success

Habitat loss and fragmentation (Caso et al. 2008; US Fish & Wildlife Service 2010)

• Roads break up the forest landscape

Take and hunting by humans

• Illegal trade for pets and pelts
  • Between 1960s and mid-1970s some 200,000 ocelots killed each year for their furs (Sunquist & Sunquist 2009)
• Killed to prevent loss of livestock
  • Ocelots have a reputation as poultry predators

Issues along U.S./Mexico border

• Population isolation
  • Border barrier development and patrolling efforts cause hinder movement on individuals across the border

Image credit: © San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. All rights reserved.

Arizona Game & Fish Department (2011)
Campbell (2003)
Caso et al. (2008)
Conover (2002)
Di Bittetti et al (2006)
Federal Register (2010)
Haines (2006)
Harwell & Siminski (1990)
Janecka et al. (2007)
Kaemmerer et al. (2011)
López González et al. (2003)
Sunquist & Sunquist (2002, 2009)
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (2010)