Jaguar Conservation | The Conservation Report

From E&ENews PM:

Judge John Roll of the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona ruled the agency erred in not preparing a recovery plan or designating critical habitat for the rare cat. His ruling orders federal officials to issue a new recovery plan and critical habitat decisions by January 2010.

The service listed the jaguar under the Endangered Species Act in 1997 but did not protect habitat for the cat or write a recovery plan — both required by law.

Initially, FWS officials said that since human takes of the jaguars were one of the chief threats, a habitat map could do more harm than good for the animal. The agency eventually dropped that argument after other jaguar recovery programs in the Southwest published maps. Agency officials then argued that the recovery efforts were not needed because the jaguar’s range in the United States was “insignificant.”

Roll ruled that the FWS findings were inconsistent with federal law and the best available science.

“Based upon a comprehensive review of the administrative record … and because the FWS determination does not appear to be based upon the best scientific evidence available, and because it is inconsistent with the statutory mandate of the ESA, its own regulations, and relevant case law, it must be set aside,” Roll wrote in his 33-page opinion.

Image Found Here

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These unique big cats deserve more protection and funding dedicated to gathering more data. Furthermore, the U.S.-Mexico border fence is seen as an obstacle to jaguar conservation. From Arizona Wildlife News:

Jaguar conservation has just experienced an exciting development with the capture and collaring of the first wild jaguar in Arizona by the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

The male cat was incidentally captured yesterday in an area southwest of Tucson during a research study aimed at monitoring habitat connectivity for mountain lions and black bears. While individual jaguars have been photographed sporadically in the borderland area of the state over the past years, the area where this animal was captured was outside of the area where the last known jaguar photograph was taken in January.

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Biologists are currently working on an identification analysis to determine if the collared jaguar is Macho B, a male cat that has been photographed by trail cameras periodically over the past 13 years.

The collared jaguar weighed in at 118 pounds with a thick and solid build. Field biologists’ assessment shows the cat appeared to be healthy and hardy.

The species has been protected outside of the United States under the Endangered Species Act since 1973. That protection was extended to jaguars within the U.S. in 1997, the year after their presence in the Arizona and New Mexico borderlands was confirmed.

“We issued a permit under the Endangered Species Act to radio collar a jaguar if the opportunity presented itself,” said Steve Spangle, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Arizona field supervisor. “Gathering habitat use information and learning whether and how the cat is moving in and out of the United States may be essential to jaguar conservation at the northern edge of their range.”

Please visit Arizona Wildlife News for more information.

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