The Department of Fish and Game in Arizona captured a jaguar south Of Tucson, Arizona and fitted it with a GPS radio collar. The jaguar, a well-documented male named ‘Macho’, is the first in the US to be fitted with such a collar, providing frequent updates on its movements.
The largest cat in the Americas has recently sparked a legal battle in the United States. Last year when the Bush Administration refused to protect the jaguar, the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental non-profit group, filed a lawsuit in April 2008.
Currently, only four jaguars are known to inhabit the United States. It is believed that none of them originated there, but rather migrated over the border from Mexico. The last native-born jaguar in the US was killed in 1963 in Eastern Arizona.
 Will the jaguar survive in the United States? |
The most imminent threat for the recovery of the jaguar in the Southwest is continuing construction of the border wall. Eventually the wall will make it impossible for the few jaguars of the United States to breed with the larger population in Mexico, essentially dooming the few individuals who have crossed the border.
“Macho and other jaguars need President Obama to tear down the border wall and authorize a recovery plan and critical habitat protection,” said Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity in a press release. “That way Macho may find a mate, and future generations of jaguars will still find homes in our forests and deserts.”
The jaguar has not always been so rare in the Untied States; historically it ranged from California to the Appalachian Mountains. As many places in the US were settled the great car was eradicated for its fur and the concern that it would kill livestock.
The suit brought by the Center for Biological Diversity will be heard on March 23rd in Arizona.
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