Brazilian Ocelot Consortium.

The Brazilian Ocelot Consortium (BOC) was initiated in May 2002 as an international partnership focused on establishing and managing a captive population of Brazilian ocelots in the United States and Brazilian zoos while assisting in the conservation of wild ocelot populations. Recently, two additional AZA-accredited U.S. zoos (Bergen County Zoo and Santa Ana Zoo) have joined as full participants in the Consortium. This brings to nine the number of AZA institutions providing support for BOC activities. The list includes Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Dallas Zoo, Oklahoma City Zoological Park, Oregon Zoo, Salisbury Zoological Park, and the Caribbean Garden (a zoo located in Naples). This year funding is being used in Brazil in planting nursery operations for ocelot habitat restoration and publishing and distributing studbooks (detailed inventories and breeding histories of captive populations) for all Brazilian zoos.

In the United States, the Brazilian ocelot population reached ten individuals with the recent birth of a male ocelot kitten to the Cincinnati Zoo's pair of Brazilian ocelots. This kitten is the third offspring produced by this breeding pair and is an invaluable addition to this endangered species' genetic reservoir.

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