Conservationists To Sue Over Bush Administration’s Jaguar Decision

[Guest guest]

Conservationists To Sue Over Bush Administration’s Jaguar Decision

 

July 13, 2006 — By the Center for Biological Diversity

PINOS ALTOS, NM — On July 12, the Center for Biological Diversity sent a

60-day notice of intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for its

decision to not designate critical habitat for the endangered jaguar. The

government's decision, also issued on July 12, was required by a court approved

settlement agreement in a previous Center-led lawsuit.

 

" This latest decision will not withstand judicial review, " said Michael Robinson

of the Center for Biological Diversity in Pinos Altos, New Mexico. Center

litigation, public education and organizing were responsible for the original

listing of the jaguar as an endangered species in the United States on July 22,

1997.

 

Jaguars are the largest cats native to North America, typically displaying black

rosettes (incomplete circles) on their golden fur but occasionally exhibiting a

" melanistic, " or black, phase.

 

Jaguars once roamed the entire southern suite of states from Monterrey Bay in

California through the Appalachian Mountains and Florida. Jaguars were hunted

out of the southeastern United States by the 19th century. In the western United

States they were exterminated by the Fish and Wildlife Service and its

predecessor agency to protect livestock. The last female jaguar known in the

United States was killed in 1963 in eastern Arizona where Mexican gray wolves

have been reintroduced.

 

Jaguars have continued to migrate from Mexico into Arizona and New Mexico

throughout the 20th century. Most of the returning animals have been killed.

However, over the past 10 years five different jaguars have been photographed by

trip cameras and hunters who allowed the jaguars to live. It appears several

male jaguars are consistently using areas in the United States for all or part

of their ranges and some of these are still alive today.

 

Jaguars are losing habitat in the southwestern United States at an accelerating

pace. The riparian forest of the San Pedro River in Arizona, which may serve as

a travel pathway for jaguars from Mexico, is threatened as a result of the

ongoing draining of the river for agriculture and urban development. The

riparian forest of the Gila River is threatened by a major water project that

Congress authorized in December 2004. Livestock grazing continues to destroy

streamsides, and massive new strip mines are being proposed and approved that

would destroy riparian habitat and further de-water rivers and streams.

 

The jaguar's upland habitats are threatened as well. Urban and exurban

development significantly encroaches into jaguar habitat throughout much of its

range. Increasing border developments - such as fences, stadium-style lights,

roads and off-road vehicle destruction of vegetation - threaten the ability of

jaguars to cross the U.S.-Mexico border.

 

" This latest decision to deny critical habitat protection is based on

purposefully inadequate information and erroneous logic, " said Robinson.

 

The Federal Register notice states that " Because the area used by jaguars in the

United States is such a small part of the overall range of the species and

because of nomadic use by jaguars, the range of the jaguar in the United States

is not enough area to provide for the conservation (i.e., recovery) of the

jaguar or even make a significant contribution to the conservation of the

jaguar, and cannot be defined as essential to the conservation of the species. "

 

" Jaguars are beautiful animals, and they help to keep the balance of nature, "

said Robinson. " Critical habitat provides legal protection for the areas

required to recover the jaguar. The longer the government stalls, the harder it

will be to recover the jaguar. This decision is disappointing, and it will not

stand. "

 

The government's notice is posted on today's Federal Register, Vol. 71 FR 39335,

accessible at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/fr-cont.html.

 

Contact Info:

 

Michael J. Robinson

Center for Biological Diversity

Tel : 505-313-7017

E-mail: michaelr

 

 

" NOTICE: Due to Presidential Executive Orders, the National Security Agency may

have read this email without warning, warrant, or notice. They may do this

without any judicial or legislative oversight. You have no recourse nor

protection save to call for the impeachment of the current President. "