The Obama administration has agreed to protect critical habitat for the jaguar and craft a recovery plan for the endangered species, paving the way for the cat’s return to the U.S. Southwest. The decision marks a reversal of the policy of the Bush administration, which rejected calls for protection of the jaguar on the grounds that the cat is native to Mexico. While the species once roamed from California to 
Louisiana, jaguars that are now occasionally spotted in the Southwest have apparently crossed into the U.S. from northern Mexico. A jaguar snared by the Arizona Game and Fish Department last year was the first cat captured in the U.S. in decades. Under pressure from a federal judge to protect jaguar habitat, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also pledged to develop a species recovery plan that could include reintroducing the cat to the desert. That proposal would likely be opposed by some ranchers and local officials who have fought the reintroduction of another predator, the Mexican gray wolf. Federal officials have until January 2011 to unveil their jaguar plans.