Marisol Villarreal 
San Benito- ‘An Afternoon with an Ocelot’. That’s the name of the event that the friends of Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge hosted at the Longhorn Cattle Company Barbecue and Steak restaurant in San Benito. The owner of the restaurant told UTRGV-TV off camera that this is the first time that anything like this has been done.
“The very few places where you can find wild ocelots in the united states is in Cameron County and Willacy County in south Texas. They used to extend all the way up to Arkansas and Oklahoma. There’s only about 80 left in the United States,” said Zoo and Wildlife Veterinarian Thomas Demaar.
Thomas Demaar works with the Gladys Porter Zoo and the citizen-run organization, “Friends of Laguna Atascosa.” During the 50’s & 60’s, he said the ocelot population suffered in numbers when they were hunted for their exotic coat for fashion. Ocelots began entering the “endangered species” list in 1980 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is here just to support our friends group, who does a great job to support the refuge. One good thing about a location like this is that we’re hitting a group of people that we normally wouldn’t talk to,” said Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refuge Manager, Boyd Blihovde.
For the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, an agency of the U.S. Federal Government, they normally speak to birders, anglers or hunting/fishing advocates. Educating the people of South Texas of their unique heritage with ocelots brings hope for conserving the exotic species.
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