State's capture of jaguar Macho B was intentional, federal investigators conclude

State's capture of jaguar Macho B was intentional, federal investigators conclude

http://www.azstarnet.com/news/local/article_5e60f68e-06e3-11df-96ff-001cc4c002e0.html

By Tony Davis and Tim Steller, Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Thursday, January 21, 2010 4:05 pm | Comments


The capture of Macho B, the last known wild jaguar in the United States,
was intentional, according to a new investigative report by the Interior
Department's Office of Inspector General.

The report says Arizona Game and Fish Department employees meant to capture
the jaguar Macho B on Feb. 18 last year, citing evidence gathered as part
of an ongoing federal criminal investigation.

The Inspector General investigators reviewed the material gathered by criminal
investigators of the Fish and Wildlife Service and concluded there is evidence
of criminal wrongdoing by an Arizona Game and Fish employee and an Arizona
Game and Fish subcontractor. The document doesn't name them.

That conclusion is important because the game and fish department originally
called the capture unintentional and because such "taking" of an endangered
species may be a crime under the endangered species act.

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Heartbreaking picture at the link.

Will this be a 'career event" for anyone?

Or at least a prosecution?

http://www.azstarnet.com/news/science/environment/article_e771f1cc-284a-50cb-863b-348438f632f2.html

State and federal officials initially said Macho B walked into a snare
intended for mountain lions or bears. They launched investigations after
a wildlife technician told the Arizona Daily Star she had been directed
to put female jaguar scat at the site of the trap two weeks before the capture.

The product of a nine-month investigation, the inspector general's report
does not name individuals who could be liable. However, the description
of the Arizona Game and Fish subcontractor matches in several respects
wildlife biologist Emil McCain.

McCain, who was employed by the Borderlands Jaguar Detection Project,
was working as a subcontractor for a Game and Fish contractor,
Clark's Guide Service, on a mountain-lion and black-bear study
when the jaguar was captured.

McCain was simultaneously working on jaguar research using motion-sensing cameras,
as the subcontractor describe in the report was.

And e-mails between McCain and Game and Fish employees show that in the
weeks before Macho B's capture, they were making preparations in case
Macho B was caught, a detail also repeated in the report.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/23/science/earth/23jaguar.html

Arizona Intentionally Snared Last Jaguar, Inquiry Finds

Contrary to their denials, employees of the Arizona Game and Fish Department
intentionally snared the last known jaguar in the Southwest last year,
a report by the federal government says.


Wildlife advocates and politicians had demanded a federal investigation of
the capture of the male cat, nicknamed Macho B, which was freed soon after he
was snared but later recaptured and euthanized because he was ailing. Many
described the department’s account of his capture and death as suspicious.

The report, issued by the inspector general of the Interior Department, said the
Arizona game and fish employees had acted inappropriately in many ways,
starting with the snaring.

But Arizona’s Game and Fish Department called the document incomplete and
denied that it was to blame.

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