A federal investigation is scrutinizing the capture and death of the only identified wild jaguar in the United States.
The animal, known as Macho B (right), was caught on 18 February by a biologist team from the Arizona Game and Fish Department and the private Borderlands Jaguar Detection Project (BJDP).
Released with a radio collar, the jaguar became ill, and was then recaptured and killed on 2 March. The biologists claim that the capture was inadvertent. But an inquiry by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which monitors such endangered species, began last week after team tracker Janay Brun disclosed that BJDP biologist Emil McCain had directed her to bait a snare with scat from a female jaguar, suggesting that the jaguar was specifically targeted.
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Capture of wild jaguar raises eyebrows. Nature 458, 819 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/458819f
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/458819f
