New videos of one of the rarest mammals in the Southwest are drawing attention to a species whose survival in this country is at risk.

Conservation CATalyst, a Tucson-based wildlife-preservation group, released videos Monday of an ocelot roaming through the mountains miles from the U.S.-Mexico border.

In the videos, the male Sonoran ocelot, nicknamed "Lil’ Jefe" (the boss-elot), is seen within feet of motion-sensor cameras, drinking from a puddle and trotting through an undisclosed mountain range in southern Arizona.

The cat was named by Manzo Elementary School students in Tucson and is a nod to "El Jefe," an Arizona jaguar spotted on video three years ago.

The videos were taken over the course of several months last year. Researchers with Conservation CATalyst scattered the cameras across the mountain range and combed through hundreds of hours of footage to compile clips of the ocelot.

Cat advocates say wall is a threat

The mountain where it was spotted is one of the few safe havens for the elusive animal, which is native to tropical and subtropical regions in the Americas. According to the group, the ocelot seen in the video, the first publicly released trail-camera video of an Arizona ocelot, is one of very few left in the Southwestern region.

Some of the previously reported sightings occurred just 30 miles south of the U.S-Mexico border, the group said, adding that it fears a fortified border wall could further endanger the mammal. Sightings are so rare because years ago the United States government started programs to kill off predators in the Southwest to allow livestock to breed.

As those programs have been phased out, species like grizzly bears and wolves have dwindled, while some, like the Arizona ocelot, are on the fence between survival and extinction. But wildlife advocates say one of the greatest threats to the species is a literal fence: a U.S.-Mexico border wall.

READ MORE: Ocelots try to survive in a world that barely knows they're there

The ocelot migrates from South America to the U.S. and, when it crosses the border, it is protected as an endangered species by the government. Border fencing and other barriers already inhibit that movement, and Conservation CATalyst fears that if more barriers are built, then the animals will be separated and die off north of the border.

The group’s executive director, Aletris Nelis, grew up on the borderlands and has said there’s much to be appreciated about these areas she calls “arguably the most biologically diverse” areas in the country. While the group tries to stay out of politics, Nelis said this issue shouldn’t be political.

“What we’re trying to do is really focus on the facts here, the science,” Nelis said, “... and we want people to decide if it’s worth saving ocelots. If so, then we need to think about other strategies.”

Ocelots and the desert ecosystem

Nelis and her colleagues leave that work to groups like the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental-advocacy group also based in Tucson that lobbies lawmakers and pushes them to consider legislation to protect animals like the ocelot.

The group is currently hashing out lawsuits against President Donald Trump’s administration over proposed border-wall fortification and construction.

Laiken Jordahl, the center's borderlands campaigner, said Monday’s tentative agreement reached by a bipartisan group of lawmakers to partially fund that construction is a “death sentence” for "Lil Jefe” and for the chances of ocelot recovery, as well as other animals.

“We know that they’re coming up through these corridors of unwalled areas,” Jordahl said. “And if more miles of wall are built, especially in these key corridors, there won’t be cats here anymore.”

Jordahl acknowledged that there are people who don’t care about this at all, but said the cats’ presence on the landscape is one of many interconnected pieces that make the larger ecosystem work.

What's at stake

One of the researchers tracking the ever-changing populations and habits of the animals in the Southwest is Chris Bugbee, a senior scientist with Conservation CATalyst.

Bugbee called the sighting “a very rare thing” and noted that "Lil Jefe" was first spotted seven years ago and is one of a handful of once-abundant species now seldom seen. He and others remain vigilant and hopeful for its continued survival.

While he may have opinions on border security, Bugbee said facts are facts and politics aside, promoting the prosperity of the ocelot and other animals in the region is something everyone should want.

“I want people to understand what’s really at stake,” Bugbee said.

“If we had a solid physical structure built across the entire border, we would have an ocelot or two that would be trapped on the American side, and they would live their lives and we would have no more once they reach the end of their lifetime. That would be it.”

Andrew Nicla writes about the environment for The Republic. Reach him at andrew.nicla@gannett.com or on Twitter @AndrewNicla.

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