WASHINGTON — Donald Trump's new plans to quicken the construction of the border wall poses a great threat to biodiversity and the environment, and in particular the jaguar.<br /><br />On March 16, the Department of Homeland Security announced it will waive a number of environmental laws and regulations to accelerate the construction of border walls in Pima, Santa Cruz and Cochise counties in Arizona. <br /><br />According to the Center for Biological Diversity, parts of the new border walls will run through remote natural environments and block jaguars from migrating between Mexico and the southwestern U.S.<br /><br />They will also isolate a small breeding population of northern jaguars in Sonora, Mexico — hindering repopulation efforts.<br /><br />The jaguar is the largest cat in the Americas and one of the four big cats of the Panthera genus, the others being the lion, tiger and leopard.<br /><br />Inhabitat reports other animals that will be negatively impacted by the new border walls are the Mexican gray wolf, the lesser long-nosed bat, the ocelot, the Sonoran pronghorn and the cactus ferruginous pygmy owl.<br /><br /><br />A 2017 report by the Center for Biological Diversity states that: 'a minimum of 93 species at risk of extinction will be further imperiled by construction of Trump's border wall, including impacts to critical habitat for 25 of these species.'
