From Green Right Now Reports
Arizona wildlife authorities should have notified federal officers before setting a trap last year that ensnared a jaguar, leading to the death of the cat, according to an investigative report by the U.S. Interior Department’s Inspector General’s office released last week.
Because the jaguar is an endangered species, the local authorities were supposed to notify the federal wildlife overseers and obtain a permit for the capture, investigators found. Their failure to apply for a permit was a violation of the Endangered Species Act.
Arizona Game and Fish Department authorities have maintained that the capture of the jaguar, known as Macho B, was inadvertent. But the IG’s office found that even that circumstance did not exempt local wardens from needing a permit while conducting operations in known jaguar territory.
“We found that the AZGFD was aware of Macho B’s presence in the vicinity of its mountain lion and black bear study in late December 2008 and January 2009, yet it did not consult with FWS, as required by the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973,” investigators wrote.
The death of the cat has been under investigation since environmentalists raised questions about the animal’s suspicious death in 2009. Macho B was possibly the last jaguar alive in the wild in the United States. He died in February 2009 after being captured in a leg hold snare meant for mountain lions an black bear.
Arizona Fish and Game personnel affixed a GPS tracking device to the jaguar and freed him. But in days, the GPS collar indicated Macho B was not moving. Researchers found him, lethargic and ailing; veterinarians determined that Macho B was suffering from renal (kidney) failure and euthanized him.
The death prompted calls for more details about the trapping, and raised questions about whether the stress of the capture contributed to Macho B’s demise. The cat was older, and estimated to be 16-20 to years old. After the ailing cat was recaptured, experts agreed he was suffering from lethal renal failure, and he was euthanized.
The Center for Biological Diversity is suing the AGFD over the death in an effort to prevent any further operations from jeopardizing any possible remaining U.S. jaguars, or those that might wander across the border from Mexico.
“This report affirms all of the legal claims in our litigation to prevent Arizona Game and Fish from killing another jaguar, and will be critical evidence at trial,” said Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity.
The IG report also suggests that Macho B may have been injured in his capture, which the Arizona GFD denies, concluding that the animal lost a canine tooth while ensnared and not before the capture, as state officials had argued. The tooth was broken to the root, according to the report, which suggests it could have been the entry point for infection.
Federal investigators also found that the autopsy of Macho B was less than thorough. It was performed as a “cosmetic necropsy,” which preserved the pelt but was less exploratory than a full autopsy, because a state authority did not know the difference between a “cosmetic necropsy” and a “complete necropsy.”
The Department of the Interior encompasses the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which administers the Endangered Species Act.