Texan Ocelot Monitoring

Project Goals: assist with estimates of ocelot density on a wildlife refuge and a privately owned ranch in South Texas through scat detection. The Spatial and Population Ecology of Carnivores Lab has already started to monitor these ocelots using scat collection, camera traps, GPS tracking collars, and spatially explicit capture-recapture methods.
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Project Details

Project Location: South Texas, USA

Project Partners: Lisanne Petracca's SPEC Lab at Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute at Texas A&M University Kingsville and the East Foundation

Project Duration: 30 days

Targets Found (approx): confidential

Target Species

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Ocelot

Leopardus pardalis

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Bobcat

Lynx rufus

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    2024 Team Members

    Lauren Wendt with K9s Finn & Benny

    2025 Team Members

    Heather with K9s Barley & Scottie

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      What Our Project Partners Had to Say

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      "Our experience with K9 Conservationists was a great asset to our ocelot research program. We knew getting scat data would be a challenging endeavor, but working with K9 Conservationists allowed us to execute an effective project. The team was professional and easy to plan/work with, and we collected valuable data for Texas felids. Our handler Lauren, and her dogs, endured especially tough conditions to get the job done! We want to especially thank Kayla for helping to manage the project, Lauren for running an awesome dog team, and of course the hard-working pups Finn and Benny!"

       James Helferich,
      PhD student, SPEC Lab, Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute

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