Finally tonight, while oscillates are widespread in South and Central America, in the United States, they're on the brink of extinction.

They were once over hunted for their coats, and now they face shrinking habitats.

Researchers hope that the key to restoring this species can be found in fertility treatments.

This is part of our series, Saving saving species. In an operating room in Texas,

veterinarians prep their patient for surgery. Mila is a five-year-old oscillot, a wild cat,

similar to a leopard or jaguar, distinguished by their spotted golden brown fur.

They're among the most beautiful cats in the world as far as different

species go. Oscelots were once plentiful in the U.S. Southwest, but now fewer than 100 remain

in Arizona and Texas, as human activity has eaten away at their habitat. Since 2023, a team from

the Cincinnati Zoo has been part of efforts seeking to boost their

numbers by attempting to breed wild oscillates with those in captivity using fertility treatments.

Bill Swanson is the zoo's director of animal research.

Just look at the cat.

I mean, why would you not want that animal to survive in nature?

The collaborators on this project are four zoos, Texas A&M University, and the East Foundation,

a Southwest Texas nonprofit that protects wildlife habitats through land conservation practices.

In the operating room, Mila's eggs are surgically removed, fertilized with a male's semen and placed in an incubator.

That's part of the process that we have to build up the managed population in the breeding facility

that we can rewild and put back of nature.

Ashley Reeves is a research veterinarian at the East Foundation.

When the fur trade became very popular, they were hunted down for their beautiful fur and then also loss of habitat, human encroachment, large cities being built in roadways.

Unlike domestic cats, oscillates typically produce very small litters.

...