Link from a HT friend...

[noharleyyet]

First Arizona jaguar captured, collared, released
Feb. 20, 2009 02:45 PM
The Arizona Republic
Arizona Game and Fish Department officials captured, collared and released the first jaguar found in Arizona borders Wednesday.

The 118-pound male cat was found in a lug hold snare set out by department officials and fitted with a satellite-tracking collar and released.

Terry Johnson, Endangered Species Specialist at the Arizona Game and Fish Department, said the jaguar was confirmed by his spotted pattern to be Macho B, a jaguar that has been photographed by trail cameras for about 13 years.
Macho B was first photographed at about two to three years old, which makes him currently near 16 years old, Johnson said. Macho B is the oldest documented wild jaguar in the world.

Despite his age, Johnson said Macho B “looks in darn fine condition” and is nearly at the average weight of male jaguars with good muscular tone.

Since 1971, only six jaguars have been documented in the U.S. In the past 120 years, less than 70 of these animals have been documented.

The department unsuccessfully attempted to collar a jaguar ten years ago, and since then have developed rules for collaring captured jaguars.

The rules call for sedation of the animal while in captivity, observation for a minimum of six hours, and then release back into the wild.

Since jaguar presence became known in border states, the Endangered Species Act extended protection to U.S. jaguars in 1997.

It is unknown whether the jaguar is native to Arizona or Mexico, but Johnson said the collar has a special alert signal if Macho B crosses the border.

The one pound and 12 ounce collar, which was donated by North Star Science and Technologies, will provide location points every three hours for the incredibly rare feline, according to Johnson.

“We have absolutely no firm information on how jaguars use land in the U.S.,” he said. “The collar will help verify or refute all speculations on the jaguar's habits.”

Bill Van Pelt, Program Manager at the Arizona Game and Fish Department, said, compared to a mountain lions, jaguars are more robust, “kind of like a wrestler.”

According to Van Pelt, a loose translation of the name jaguar from Native American dialects is “the predator that kills in one jump.”

Historically, jaguar territory extended as far north as the Grand Canyon, Van Pelt said. They currently live predominantly in Mexico and South and Central America.

Jaguars are the third largest feline in the world, after lions and tigers, and the only feline on the Western Hemisphere that roars.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl...guar20-ON.html

 

[Oak]

I've got a friend who works on the jaguar project down in SE AZ. Emil and I worked together for the DOW many moons ago.

http://www.hcn.org/issues/356/17275

 

[noharleyyet]

Jaguars are the third largest feline in the world, after lions and tigers, and the only feline on the Western Hemisphere that roars.

Didn't know this....hearing one would definitely invoke the pucker factor.

...good read Oak.

 

[JohnSWA]

I've known Terry Johnson for years. He's a total standup kind of guy. I've been to several AZ G&F roundtables and the last one I went to, he tore the USFW head a new one over habitat and fish sustainability with algae blooms and whatnot which were a problem here a whle ago.

It's good to see him in the news and that he's telling it like it is regardless of the political correctness system that he has to fight daily!

Right on Terry! Keep up the good fight, and hopefully these Jaguars are staying fat eating the illegal aliens!

 

[AZ402]

Macho B is dead........

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2009/03/03/20090303jaguar0303.html

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

Well Crap. This story took a wild turn, didn't it. John

 

[JohnSWA]

It's sad, but he was estimated to be 15-17 years old. He was an old cat that died of kidney failure, at least that's the latest I've read.