I don't know the answer to that, but I don't see how a fence can help. The=
y need a comprehensive study of likely corridors. Perhaps this was the las=
t jaguar ever to live here. He lived here for over a decade, it seems, an=
d now? Kind of sad. They used to roam as far north as the riparian areas o=
f the Grand Canyon, where the last one was observed in 1895. I suppose the=
re are some recordings of wild jaguars roaring, or are there?
glp
In Kevin Colver <> wrote:
>
> George,
> Thank you for the update, this was very interesting to hear the
> history of the jaguar in the US. Does anyone know to what extent the =
> border wall will extend through the mountainous back country and
> desert of southern AZ? Does it involve California gulch or Sycamore
> canyon? Is there hope of further jaguar crossings or has the fence
> put an end to that?
> Kevin
>
>
> On Mar 18, 2009, at 2:26 PM, George Paul wrote:
>
> > Oops.
> >
> > The accidental trapping, and then purposeful sedation and collaring =
> > by Arizona Game and Fish, of that jaguar that I reported on last
> > month here for the group, has had unintented consequences. The
> > collar they put on it allowed them to learn that suddenly, after 13 =
> > years, it wasn't moving around any more. They found it, and
> > discovered that their intervention had now made it critically ill -- =
> > with kidney failure, probably from the sedation. They euthanized it. =
> > The animal, named "Macho B Jaguar," was the only jaguar known to
> > exist in the United States. Now are there are none again.
> >
> > Perhaps this is different sort of "uncertainty principle."
> >
> > Here is a story and editorial on it in the LA Times:
> >
> > A federal recovery plan is needed to restore the cats in areas of
> > the U.S.
> > By James William Gibson
> > March 18, 2009
> >
> > They used to roam a wide swath of the Southwest, from California
> > through Texas, but in recent years the known jaguar population of
> > the United States had dwindled to one: Macho B Jaguar.
> >
> > In 1996, the large cat was discovered to be living in the mountains =
> > of southern Arizona near the Mexican border by a hunter, who managed =
> > to photograph him. In the years that followed, Macho B's movements
> > were occasionally captured by a network of motion-triggered cameras =
> > placed in the mountainous areas he favored.
> >
> > In February, the cat was accidentally trapped by Arizona Fish and
> > Game Department officials, who fitted him with a radio collar in
> > order to better track his movements. By the end of the month, they
> > noticed that Macho B was no longer regularly foraging for food, and =
> > soon he was recaptured southwest of Tucson. Veterinarians discovered =
> > advanced kidney failure -- possibly accelerated by the stress of
> > capture and sedation -- and decided to euthanize him, leaving the
> > country with no known jaguars.
> >
> > During the 19th and early 20th centuries, naturalists wrote about
> > many encounters with jaguars. In their 1854 book, "The Viviparous
> > Quadrupeds of North America," John James Audubon and John Bachman
> > described the patience with which a jaguar waited for its prey at a =
> > watering hole. And then, "the unsuspecting creature draws near the
> > dangerous spot; suddenly, with a tremendous leap, the jaguar pounces =
> > on him, and with the fury of an incarnate fiend fastens upon his
> > neck with his terrible teeth."
> >
> > But by the middle of the 20th century, the animals, the third-
> > largest species of cats after lions and tigers, had mostly
> > disappeared. Reduced habitat and prey made survival increasingly
> > difficult. And men found glory in killing them -- part of the long, =
> > brutal war against predators that nearly exterminated wolves,
> > mountain lions and grizzly bears.
> >
> > By all rights, the Endangered Species Act, established in 1973,
> > should have protected the jaguar. But although the cats were listed, =
> > the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service never formulated a recovery plan =
> > for them or delineated "critical habitat," meaning a designated
> > territory in which development was subject to regulation for
> > potential impacts. Indeed, officials have argued for 30 years that
> > because only isolated jaguars existed, the species could not recover =
> > and thus the jaguar had no legal right to critical habitat.
> >
> > The Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity has repeatedly
> > challenged this interpretation, saying it's a wrongheaded reading of =
> > the endangered species law. Jaguars would recover in the U.S., the
> > center insisted, if the animals were fully protected by all the
> > measures the act mandates.
> >
> > The center's argument -- and it is a good one -- is that jaguars
> > should have been managed aggressively, as were other animals that
> > had been nearly extirpated from the wild. The California condor, the =
> > black ferret, the Rocky Mountain and Mexican gray wolves were all
> > brought back through intensive federal intervention. Now it's time
> > for wildlife officials to create a recovery team for the jaguar.
> >
> > Scientists should assess whether there are ways to encourage
> > "transient" jaguars, which are known to move back and forth across
> > the border, to instead stay in the U.S. and reproduce, or to
> > deliberately translocate them (the way gray wolves were reintroduced =
> > to Yellowstone National Park). A recovery plan also could designate =
> > crucial habitat, such as the Sky Island region of southeastern
> > Arizona and southwestern New Mexico and the Gila National Forest.
> > They could even recommend U.S. aid to help protect jaguar territory =
> > in Mexico.
> >
> > Thirty years ago, in the New York Times, Harvard biologist Edward O. =
> > Wilson wrote that "the one truly irreparable damage we can inflict
> > on ourselves is eliminating a large fraction of the Earth's
> > species. ... Our biophilic descendants will regard species
> > extermination as the greatest possible sin of the 20th century."
> > Jaguars are clearly in peril. Whether they recover depends on
> > decisions made now, decisions that will be remembered for a long,
> > long time.
> >
> > James William Gibson is a professor of sociology at Cal State Long
> > Beach and the author of the forthcoming book, "A Reenchanted World: =
> > The Quest for a New Kinship with Nature."
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
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