Rare U.S. Jaguar Euthanized Due To Severe Illness Photo: Arizona Game and Fish Department/Handout
An extremely rare jaguar, fitted with a satellite tracking collar, is released into the wilderness southwest of Tucson, Arizona, in this photo taken on February 18, 2009, and released by the Arizona Game and Fish Department on February 20.
Photo: Arizona Game and Fish Department/Handout

PHOENIX - An extremely rare U.S. jaguar recently fitted with a satellite tracking collar was recaptured and euthanized on Monday after veterinarians found it was suffering from a terminal disease, wildlife officials said.

Officials with the U.S. and Arizona wildlife services said the male cat, which was first caught on February 20 in a rugged area southwest of Tucson, was found to be suffering from untreatable kidney failure.

"It is a sad, but appropriate course of action to euthanize this animal given the hopelessly terminal nature of his condition," Steve Spangle, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Arizona field supervisor, said in a news release.

The animal, known as "Macho B," was thought to be 15 to 16 years old. Kidney failure is a common ailment in older cats, the news release said.

Jaguars roam over a vast area ranging from northern Argentina in the south to the rugged borderland wildernesses of Arizona and New Mexico, where they were thought to have vanished until two confirmed sightings in 1996.

Only a handful have been sighted in the United States since then, and very little is known about their habits.

The agency said data gathered in the days after the jaguar's release indicated the animal was doing well. But data received in recent days showed a decreased level of activity that warranted further investigation.

Officials recaptured the cat for medical intervention. A team of veterinarians found it was in severe and unrecoverable kidney failure and opted to euthanize it.

"We were looking forward to using the data acquired from Macho B to learn more about the species use of the borderland habitats in order to further conserve the species as a whole," said Gary Hovatter, deputy director of the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

The U.S. government placed the animals under Endangered Species Act protections in 1997. Since then, researchers using cameras set on remote trails have identified just a handful of individual animals, all males.

The jaguars, the only roaring cats in the Americas, are thought to breed in Mexico and roam up over the border.

In recent years, concern over the well-being of the U.S. population has intensified as a program to build 670 miles of security fencing gathers speed along the nearly 2,000-mile (3,200-km) border with Mexico.

(Editing by Peter Cooney)

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