Studying Jaguars to Death
by The Rogue Pundit, June 30, 2009, [here]
A century ago, the jaguar was found in the four states bordering Mexico-as far north as the Grand Canyon. However, it has been all-but-extirpated from this country via hunting and habitat loss. Jaguars are still occasionally seen in southern Arizona and New Mexico, but there’s no known breeding population here. Recently, it seems that one of the greatest dangers to jaguars in or near the U.S. is researchers trying to study them.
In the last seven years, biologists have captured four jaguars in the Arizona-Sonora region, in each case intending to put a radio collar on the animal and follow its movements.
June 9, 2002: Nacori Chico, Sonora
…
The animal never recovered from sedation and died as the warm morning turned hot. Rosas attributed the death to “heat stress.”
Ugh. The animal had been trapped in a leg snare. The first ketamine dart didn’t do the trick, but the second dart-a half-dose, sure did. The researcher was a PhD student from New Mexico State University. … [more]
