The Arizona Game and Fish Department may have some explaining to do over the death of the last known jaguar in Arizona.
A report filed by the Department of the Interior alleges that the initial capture of the cat, known as Macho B, was probably intentional and violated the Endangered Species Act.
We wrote about Macho back in September when the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging the same thing.
For anyone unfamiliar with the case, here's a brief rundown of the tragic fate of Macho B: In February, Game and Fish trapped and tagged a jaguar named Macho B, as part of an effort to track the migration patterns of mountain lions and other animals near the Mexico-Arizona border.
Macho was released back into the wild until March, when they recaptured the jaguar and determined he was suffering kidney failure.
That was the end of the road for Macho, and he was euthanized.
As it turns out, Macho B was more likely dehydrated than suffering kidney failure, and giving the animal a little water probably would have done the trick.
As stated in our previous post: Oops.
The report alleges that G and F has no authority or the proper permits to capture jaguars, and a federal prosecutor is now looking into whether the capture of Macho B was illegal.
However, it seems G and F won't have to worry about gaining authority or permits to capture jaguars, being that it apparently killed the last one in Arizona.
