Zoo welcomes newest residents

TYLER — The Caldwell Zoo announced the birth of two healthy ocelot kittens Monday. The kittens and their mom, Maya, are slowly warming up to this new world in a secluded den where zoo keepers are tending to them quietly to avoid disturbing the new litter.

“Ocelots are endangered because their habitat (the thick brush where they live) has been cleared for farming and growth of cities,” Texas Parks and Wildlife said. “Only about 30 to 35 Ocelots live in the shrublands remaining at or near the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge near Brownsville, Texas. In 1995 it was estimated that 80 to 120 individuals lived in Texas.”

According to our news partner KETK, the species was deemed endangered in 1972 and has remained in that category ever since.

Landowners local to the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and into Mexico play a crucial part in these animals’ survival as a species. Across Texas, hundreds of generational farm/ranch properties are trying to rewrite history by saving brush habitats on private land.

“For example, the Yturria Ranch, a 14,000-acre property in South Texas, serves as a cattle ranch and a wildlife preserve with a breeding population of ocelots,” The Nature Conservancy said. “Parts of the ranch with the best native Tamaulipan thornscrub are protected by conservation easements.”

In the last two years, Texas A&M Kingsville has broken ground on a new $20 million state-of-the-art Ocelot sanctuary that is set to open its doors and habitats in the fall of 2026. The sanctuary will teach Ocelots’ natural behaviors and give the cats a safe place to breed and eventually be released into habitats part of the Safe Harbor agreement.

For more information on Ocelots and how to help save their home, you can visit The Nature Conservancy website