Group: Set aside section for jaguars

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - Environmentalists want the federal government to set aside more than 53 million acres in New Mexico, Arizona, California and Texas as critical habitat for the endangered jaguar.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is evaluating which areas of the Southwest will be set aside for the elusive cat, once thought to have disappeared from the United States.

The agency has acknowledged there are "physical and biological features" in the region that can be used by jaguars, but the area proposed by the Center for Biological Diversity would represent one of the largest swaths of land ever set aside for any single species.

The group contends jaguar recovery in the United States is dependent on large areas being protected as critical habitat. The proposed habitat is more than half the size of California.