Ocelot_TwoCoats_Swarts_Hilary_LosFresnosTX_10March2022_Reel4098.mp3

Hilary Swarts [00:00:02] In the sixties, these animal print fashions became very much in demand. You know, you can like picture one of Jackie O's little pillbox hats or something like that.

Hilary Swarts [00:00:16] And so, the craze for these animal prints, especially coats from ocelot, from leopard, from just about anything somebody could, could catch that had one of these quote unquote exotic prints, was pretty devastating to a lot of cat populations. And ocelots were no exception.

Hilary Swarts [00:00:39] And I think the other thing that's particularly, I don't know, to me, that was shocking about, about what I've learned of it, is because they're such small cats, relatively speaking, you might need 40 individuals to make a coat. So, considering that we estimate that there are about 80 or fewer ocelots left in Texas, you know, that's like two coats' worth. I mean, it really, it's a really shocking scale.

Hilary Swarts [00:01:10] And I'm not sure with that fur trade, how many pelts would have been coming from Texas, and how many might have been coming from Mexico and further south. But, the numbers are in the hundreds of thousands. And so obviously that would be a pretty devastating effect.

Hilary Swarts [00:01:31] And kind of going back to the slow reproductive rate, even when that poaching pressure for their pelts eased up, you're still talking about a slow recovery time because of that slow reproductive rate.

Hilary Swarts [00:01:47] So, certainly I think several factors contributed to poaching becoming a much less worrisome threat.

Hilary Swarts [00:01:57] Fashions change, right? So, to some extent there was a fad and then that trend subsided and so the demand went down.

Hilary Swarts [00:02:07] But there were also legal protections, like the Endangered Species Act being passed in the early seventies, and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which has the CITES treaty, which is a voluntary treaty that nations sign on to, in the interest of protecting animals that are at risk.

Hilary Swarts [00:02:27] So, I think all of those factors really contributed.

Hilary Swarts [00:02:30] But, I will say it's been very interesting in my time here, probably, I don't know, five, seven times, I've been contacted by someone all over the United States who says, "Help. You know, I inherited this ocelot coat from my grandmother or my aunt or something, and I don't want it and I don't know what to do with it".

Hilary Swarts [00:02:54] So, that sort of artifact from the fashion craze, I wouldn't be surprised if there aren't many closets and attics across the country that have the remnants of that animal print fad.

Hilary Swarts [00:03:10] When we can we use those for just kind of educational programs. And I guess I would say I'm pleased to report that, yes, there is occasionally someone who says, "Oooh! I want that". And I'm like, "No, that's not what we're going for here". But for the most part, people are shocked and appalled. And when they hear the amount of cats that went into a given coat, you know, they're even more shocked and appalled.

Hilary Swarts [00:03:34] So, hopefully, that sort of mentality of, of just total exploitation for fashion is increasingly unpopular.