In the spotlight

SAVING THE JAGUAR

Revered as deities amongst the Mayan and Aztec peoples, jaguars inspire through their grace and power. These agile hunters once roamed from South America through the southern and central United States, but lost habitat and were killed off in the east in the 1700s. They were reduced through Spanish bounties and fur hunting in the southwestern United States, and the last animals were systematically hunted down by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the 20th century, only to reappear sporadically due to migration from Mexico.

Since the jaguar was listed as endangered in the United States in 1997 in response to a Center campaign, we’ve three times sued the Fish and Wildlife Service to obtain a recovery plan and critical habitat designation; mapped 62 million acres of potential jaguar habitat in Arizona and New Mexico; advocated for protection from government traps, snares, and poisons; and opposed walling off the U.S.-Mexico border — which the Service said wouldn’t hurt the species — to ensure that jaguars will always have access to the full extent of their range. In March 2009, after we filed our third suit to fight for a recovery plan and protected habitat for the jaguar, we (and the jaguar) won decisively. A federal judge ruled that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must issue new recovery plan and critical habitat decisions by January 2010.

In March 2008, when the Arizona Game and Fish Department euthanized the last known U.S. jaguar after capturing and fitting him with a radio collar, the Center called for an independent medical investigation, which revealed that the jaguar’s death was at least in part due to agency mismanagement. When Game and Fish announced it would investigate its own actions, the Center called on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service law enforcement to step in and do an investigation of its own. The federal agency acquiesced, and the Arizona attorney general’s office opened a separate investigation. In September, we filed suit against Arizona Game and Fish to prevent the killing of any more jaguars.