|
|
|
 Editorials | Environmental | January 2008 
U.S. Abandons Jaguar Recovery Plan, Conservation Group Cries Foul
 Windsor Genova - AHN
go to original
Albuquerque, N.M. - The U.S. federal government has decided not to pursue a recovery plan for the endangered jaguars endemic to Arizona.
The decision issued on Thursday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Southwestern Region office dismayed the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), a conservation group that proposed the plan to save from extinction the largest and rarest cat species of North America.
A memo from FWS director Dale Hall justified the move saying the proposed plan is not helpful to jaguars, which were placed on the federal endangered-species list in 1997, and that federal support for the big cat's conservation will continue.
Aznet.com quoted Elizabeth Slown, spokeswoman for the federal agency's Southwestern Region headquarters in Albuquerque, as saying, "We'd rather put our efforts into on-the-ground efforts: participating in the Jaguar Conservation Team led by (the state of) Arizona, continuing to fund research we do throughout Central America."
"The jaguar is still under (the protection of) the ESA; it doesn't affect that at all." Slown added, referring to the Endangered Species Act.
CBD director Kievan Suckling said FWS's reason to opt out of the plan is because only a few jaguars exist in the United States. But Suckling said this reason is flawed because the federal government pursued a recovery plan for the Mexican gray wolf even if none of the animals live in the U.S. The plan bred captive wolves from Mexico and released their offspring in the country.
Only four jaguars are known to exist in Arizona and these are believed to have come from northern Mexico. Human development is being blamed for the destruction of the jaguar's natural habitat causing their population to dwindle in the past many years. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us