US Person missed this story, but a positive development for wildlife is worth repeating. In March this year the US Fish & Wildlife under litigation pressure from the "
bullies" at the Center for Biological Diversity reversed their previous findings and set aside critical habitat under the Endangered Species act for the jaguar
(Panthera onca), America's largest wild cat. Previously reported here was the story of "Macho B"
{06.04.06, The Last of His Breed} then the only known jaguar to be inhabiting the borderlands of Arizona. He was euthanized in 2009 after yahoos working for the Arizona Department of Game & Fish captured him illegally and injured him. Macho lived in the Atascosa and Pajarito mountains for at least 16 years. But no documented breeding pairs have been found in the US for over 50 years. The last known female jaguar was shot in 1963 on Arizona's Mogollon Rim. According to Fish & Wildlife only six or seven males have been spotted in the United States since 1982. The cat was placed on the Endangered Species list in 1997. Currently, there is a
male jaguar living in the Santa Rita Mountains outside Tuscon on the proposed site of the Rosemont copper mine.
The endangered spotted cat now has 1,194 square miles with which to reestablish itself in this country. Jaguars travel great distances and they still live in Mexico where they are seen forty miles south of the border. Research shows that a species with a designated critical habitat is twice as likely to make progress towards recovery than one without the benefit of a designation. The Service will prepare and release for comment a draft recovery plan for the cat to fulfill its obligations under the Act. Previously the Service had concluded that designation of habitat was "not prudent", but in 2009 the Center for Biological Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife sued the agency in US District Court for Arizona. The federal court set aside the agency's determination and told it to reconsider. It took the Service four years to come up with a designation. It does not include the prime habitat of the Chiricahua Mountains in Arizona and the forested Mogollon Rim in New Mexico; historically these areas were occupied by jaguars and are still suitable habitat. The new designation does include the Santa Rita Mountains. Critical habitat means no federal agency can take actions such as issuing mining permits or commercial licenses that would make the habitat unsuitable for jaguars.
An executive of Augusta Resource Corporation, a Canadian business, says his company's copper mine project will not interfere with the recovery of the jaguar, but that the agency should not include the northern Santa Rita Mountains in its designation
[photo: proposed site]. He also said his company's legal adversary, the Center of Biological Diversity, engaged in "faux science and bullying tactics" to achieve the designation. In reality, it required 17 years of persistent litigation and dedicated effort to force the federal government to help the endangered jaguar survive in America.
US Person says, now
Panthera, go forth and be fruitful!
