Defenders' Experts
Passing of Macho B - "Arizona's Jaguar"
Macho B, a jaguar who roamed the wildlands of southern Arizona for at least the last 13 years, was euthanized this week due to advanced kidney failure. Macho B was both a reminder of a time when jaguars were more plentiful here, and a hopeful sign that they can and will return to the Southwest. He was elusive but well-known, like most beloved characters. Macho B was very rarely seen, but was often caught by researchers’ remote cameras. He had his haunts, his habits, and his many fans.
Macho B had been inadvertently captured in a snare trap in on February 18th, and so was fitted with a satellite collar to track his movements. On March 2nd, he was recaptured when he was observed to be in poor condition and to have trouble walking. Veterinarians at the Phoenix Zoo diagnosed the kidney failure.
Macho B showed us that jaguars do live in the United States. We do not know how many there may be, or exactly where they are, or whether they live here year around or spend some of their time in Mexico. What we do know is that they belong here, and that given some help, they can return. What they need is suitable habitat, which various studies – as well as Macho B himself – have demonstrated exists in the borderlands, open corridors between here and established breeding populations in northern Mexico, and a recovery plan – a roadmap to reaching healthy populations and eventually being removed from the Endangered Species List.
So far, the USFWS has refused to write a recovery plan, calling US jaguars “peripheral to the species.” Defenders does not agree, and will be arguing in federal court in Tucson on March 23rd that the Fish and Wildlife Service must develop a recovery plan for America’s jaguars. Certainly Macho B, and his kind, deserve no less.
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