I baited jaguar trap, research worker says

[Ptah]

http://www.azstarnet.com/news/287095

Attorney general opens investigation into capture |
Biologist denies telling worker to use scat to lure cat |
State claimed Macho B's capture was inadvertent
By Tony Davis and Tim Steller
Arizona Daily Star

A trap the state says inadvertently snared the last known
wild jaguar in the United States actually was baited with
female jaguar scat, a member of the Borderlands Jaguar
Detection Project says.

Janay Brun told the Star that on Feb. 4 she put the scat
at the site of the trap that two weeks later snared the
male jaguar, known as Macho B. He was released but recaptured
12 days later, on March 2, because he showed signs of poor health.
He was euthanized that afternoon.

Brun, 37, said she spoke to the Star because she thinks she
helped cause the death of Macho B. "That jaguar meant a lot to me,
and the fact that I mindlessly participated in this —
it's a regret I'll have for the rest of my life."

She said she put the scat out in the presence of a state
Game and Fish employee and Emil McCain, a biologist for the project.
Brun alleges that McCain told her to place the scat at the site.

[Ptah]

1. Feds launch criminal probe of jaguar death

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/frontpage/113580.php


The curious case of Macho B, the jaguar captured in southern Arizona, has quickly descended into finger pointing and official investigations.

There are questions about whether the jaguar was euthanized too quickly, as well as accusations he was captured on purpose, not accidentally, as the Arizona Game & Fish Department has stated.

On Thursday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said its law-enforcement division had begun a criminal investigation into all aspects of the capture and death of the animal.

It began its investigation after a request from U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva and because Game & Fish asked for an outside agency to look into what happened.