Posted by Steve Sieren on February 22, 2009 at 11:14 PM
The animal was captured, photographed and collared Southwest of Tucson. Sounds unbelievable but they have also been spotted in Central Mexico. A study for tracking habitual movements of mountain lions and black bears captured the kitty. It was a male weighing 118 lbs. with a thick and solid build. With all the vehicle and pedestrian fences it makes you wonder if the cats are affected by them. Here is a link to the article with photos.
Very exciting news here, Steve. Always good to see these unexpected finds still exist out there somewhere. I think it was last year some one had posted a wolverine sighting from a location in North America that was a pleasant and yet another unexpected event. We can always hope for the best for what wildlife does still exist out there.
Nice to hear they're back, or at least one. They were rare but not unheard of when I lived down that way and points south in the 1950's. Dogs treed one in a cottonwood next to a ranch house in the boot heel of New Mexico in 1958, if I recall correctly. And a government trapper showed up with a carcass in the back of his pickup not too long before. Treed it while chasing lions with his dogs. They seem to come and go, with the go more common than the come in recent decades.
Posted by Steve Sieren on February 24, 2009 at 12:21 AM
Pretty wild, I wonder if everything your suppost to do around a mountain lion is same with one of those.
Good question. In regions close to the border El Tigre is known more for taking small animals up to javalina, which they can drag into trees almost like leopard, rather than deer and larger prey, as seems to be the preference of some puma. The people I knew got pretty exercised about losing dogs and goats, but never lost larger stock or expressed any personal fears. And these are the folks that lived with them always around.
Posted by Carl Donohue on March 3, 2009 at 3:11 AM
"But officials became worried when the jaguar stopped moving as much, had an abnormal gait and lost weight.
A team of game and fish biologists and a wildlife veterinarian began looking for the jaguar on Sunday. They found him shortly before noon Monday and transported him to the zoo, where he was put down at 5:15 p.m."
Cheers
Carl
Posted by Steve Sieren on March 3, 2009 at 10:21 PM
Can't believe it. I guess it was an old Jaguar. Maybe we'll get to hear about another one someday.
I'm in that part of the world right now, and local speculation is that we'll see more. With all the illegal activity along the border, the crowds of "tourons" and recreators have thinned, while residents tend to stay closer to town. There's a whole lot less human activity in the area, for the time being at least. And like most cats, that's attractive. We'll see!
Posted by David Meeker on April 29, 2009 at 12:12 PM
Unfortunately the sad part is the second part of the story. When the autopsy results came back is showed that the jaguar was not suffering from kidney failure like the vets had diagnosed, but was instead suffering from dehydration. That jaguar was put down for no reason other than a wrong diagnosis.
Last I heard there are now two criminal investigations under way concerning this; it appears AZ Game and Fish didn't have a permit to capture the jaguar, as the ESA listing requires. They've tried to cover themselves saying the animal was captured accidentally, but emails from the person in charge showed suggestions to use female jaguar urine beside the snare.
Here's the most recent piece I've seen on the subject. Perhaps anyone living locally can update some.
Thanks for the AZ Star link. I hadn't seen this report and it hadn't been circulated among AZ birders as far as I can recall.
I'm glad to see that this appalling affair hasn't been completely covered up yet, but it is almost as depressing reading some of the comments on the story from the people who don't understand, don't care, or just want to exploit the environment.
Posted by Steve Sieren on June 6, 2009 at 12:24 PM
Hopefully things get sorted out completely in the correct manner so that this does not happen again. We'll just have to wait see what happens when an endangered species dealt with in the wrong way.
I'm very thankful to get the emails and links here. Other wise I wouldn't even know.
Just a little 2cents .. don't EVER read the comments below online newspaper articles. EVER.
:)
Cheers
Carl
Posted by Carl Donohue on April 22, 2010 at 5:45 AM
Hey Folks,
Here's a follow up to this story, for anyone interested. Here's a dept press release. Here is a summary and a short piece from the local paper.
From the press release:
"PHOENIX – The Arizona Game and Fish Department today dismissed one of its employees as a result of the department’s ongoing internal administrative investigation into the events surrounding last year’s capture of the jaguar known as Macho B.
Dismissed was Thornton W. Smith, 40, a wildlife technician for 12 years with the department and one of the field biologists involved in the placement and monitoring of traps used in a black bear and mountain lion research project that resulted in the initial capture of Macho B.
The department dismissed Smith based on the employee’s own interview statements made during the course of the internal investigation. The statements related to Smith’s conduct that occurred several weeks after the capture, recapture and euthanizing of Macho B.
Smith’s statements and further investigation confirmed that he did not comply with verbal and written directions issued by supervisors and that he admitted to knowingly misleading federal investigators regarding facts surrounding the original capture of Macho B.
The department’s official letter that documents the grounds for dismissal was delivered to Smith earlier today."
The transcripts to the State inquiry are here - they tend to give quite a different feel .. the badgering to elicit a confession is somewhat disgusting. There's quite a bit of protecting folks higher up the ranks, IMO - particularly considering the redacted sections - like 'who else in the dept had knowledge of this?'.
This interview is a good read, transcripts of Smith's interview (the biologist that was fired).
If you look at nothing else, take a look here - the photos they took of Macho B before he died. Sad stuff.
Discussion
15 replieshttp://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/rarejaguarsspottedinarizonaandmexico
*posted in AZ forum too and not sure where it should be posted. Please let me know which one is incorrectly placed so I can delete it.
A sad update: the jaguar is now dead.
Article.
"But officials became worried when the jaguar stopped moving as much, had an abnormal gait and lost weight.
A team of game and fish biologists and a wildlife veterinarian began looking for the jaguar on Sunday. They found him shortly before noon Monday and transported him to the zoo, where he was put down at 5:15 p.m."
Cheers
Carl
Even if he were an old cat this is very sad!! I hope human inteferance did not hasten the end
Last I heard there are now two criminal investigations under way concerning this; it appears AZ Game and Fish didn't have a permit to capture the jaguar, as the ESA listing requires. They've tried to cover themselves saying the animal was captured accidentally, but emails from the person in charge showed suggestions to use female jaguar urine beside the snare.
Here's the most recent piece I've seen on the subject. Perhaps anyone living locally can update some.
Cheers
Carl
Thanks for the AZ Star link. I hadn't seen this report and it hadn't been circulated among AZ birders as far as I can recall.
I'm glad to see that this appalling affair hasn't been completely covered up yet, but it is almost as depressing reading some of the comments on the story from the people who don't understand, don't care, or just want to exploit the environment.
I'm very thankful to get the emails and links here. Other wise I wouldn't even know.
Just a little 2cents .. don't EVER read the comments below online newspaper articles. EVER.
:)
Cheers
Carl
Here's a follow up to this story, for anyone interested. Here's a dept press release. Here is a summary and a short piece from the local paper.
From the press release:
"PHOENIX – The Arizona Game and Fish Department today dismissed one of its employees as a result of the department’s ongoing internal administrative investigation into the events surrounding last year’s capture of the jaguar known as Macho B.
Dismissed was Thornton W. Smith, 40, a wildlife technician for 12 years with the department and one of the field biologists involved in the placement and monitoring of traps used in a black bear and mountain lion research project that resulted in the initial capture of Macho B.
The department dismissed Smith based on the employee’s own interview statements made during the course of the internal investigation. The statements related to Smith’s conduct that occurred several weeks after the capture, recapture and euthanizing of Macho B.
Smith’s statements and further investigation confirmed that he did not comply with verbal and written directions issued by supervisors and that he admitted to knowingly misleading federal investigators regarding facts surrounding the original capture of Macho B.
The department’s official letter that documents the grounds for dismissal was delivered to Smith earlier today."
The transcripts to the State inquiry are here - they tend to give quite a different feel .. the badgering to elicit a confession is somewhat disgusting. There's quite a bit of protecting folks higher up the ranks, IMO - particularly considering the redacted sections - like 'who else in the dept had knowledge of this?'.
This interview is a good read, transcripts of Smith's interview (the biologist that was fired).
If you look at nothing else, take a look here - the photos they took of Macho B before he died. Sad stuff.
Cheers
Carl