Iconic Jaguar of Southern Arizona to Be Remembered and Honored

A memorial service for the jaguar Macho B, and a plea for better
protection for his fellow jaguars, will be held from noon to 1:00 p.m.
on Thursday, March 5, outside the offices of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, 201 N. Bonita Ave., Suite 141, in Tucson.

"Macho B epitomized the majestic but fragile nature of our southwestern
ecosystems. By speaking out for Macho after he is gone, we fervently
hope that our mountains and deserts can still be home to his kin for
decades and centuries into the future," said Michael Robinson of the
Center for Biological Diversity.

The event will
allow people to share their thoughts and feelings about the
much-photographed Macho B, along with their wishes for a new
presidential administration to right the many wrongs committed against
American jaguars before it is too late.

The Fish
and Wildlife Service issued a permit to the Arizona Game and Fish
Department to capture a jaguar for research, but under the Bush
administration refused to develop a jaguar recovery plan - thus
ensuring the risk to jaguars was not compensated by any intention to
increase their desperately low numbers.

The Fish
and Wildlife Service also refused to map out critical habitat for
jaguars. Both measures are required under the Endangered Species Act
and are the subject of a lawsuit brought by the Center for Biological
Diversity, which will be heard in federal court in Tucson on March 23.

"Secretary Salazar has an opportunity to correct past wrongs done to
Macho B and other jaguars by the Bush administration," said Robinson.
"A recovery plan and designation of critical habitat will ensure that
science is at the center of efforts to conserve the jaguar in the
United States."

The public is invited to bring
written expressions of support for protection of critical habitat for
jaguars and for development of a long-delayed jaguar recovery plan.
These, along with other pleas for the defense of jaguars and the
conservation of their wild homelands in the Southwest, can be addressed
to the new Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar. The public prayers
and petitions will be handed to local Fish and Wildlife Service
officials at the conclusion of the services. Participants are also
encouraged to bring signs to express their regret over the loss of
Macho B.