Laguna Atascosa Wildlife Refugee released a photo of a young ocelot kitten photographed on the property.
The kitten is thought to have been one to two months old when it was seen on Thanksgiving Day 2020 on a trail camera.
“Recording a kitten this young is a very exciting, since it is a rare and special occurrence,” the refuge reported on Facebook.
The kitten joins a recent “baby boom” of ocelots on the refuge over the past two years, with five additional ocelots first detected as juveniles since 2019 and all recorded again on camera within the past few months.
Seventeen ocelots are currently documented at Laguna Atascosa NWR, a recent population high.
The refuge is inviting everyone to attend Virtual Ocelot Festival March 5 through 7 to learn even more about the rare Texas wild cats.