Ocelot Sighting in Arizona

According to this article on Arizona Central, an ocelot was recently spotted (pun intended) near the Huachuca Mountains in Southern Arizona. This photo was taken by Tony Battiste. This is pretty cool; I'd love to see an wild ocelot.

Ocelots are bigger than house cats, but smaller than most other wildcats. They live primarily in Mexico, Central, and South America. They're protected by the Endangered Species Act in the U.S., or at least as long as that legislation still means anything.

Apparently, a man was working in his yard when his barking dog called his attention to a large cat up in a tree. He called Fish and Game it reported it. They showed up and confirmed that it was an ocelot. They gave the animal some space and it eventually went away. Right now it hasn't been confirmed whether the cats is wild or an escaped exotic pet. Let's hope it's wild and stays wild. Let's also keep our fingers crossed that  AZGFD doesn't try its particular brand of "wildlife management" on this one.