This is a video about jaguars.
From the New Zealand Herald:
Security fences prevent jaguars coming homeSee also here.Monday August 20, 2007
By Peter Huck
The jaguars are coming home. Until recently the big cats, which evolved in North America, then spread south, were rarely seen in the United States.
The last known female was shot in 1963. But over the past decade at least four jaguars, probably males and identified from photographs by the unique rosette patterns on their fur, have padded north via a wildlife corridor of “sky islands,” mountains that straddle the border, into southern Arizona and New Mexico.
But the cats, protected by the US Endangered Species Act, may become victims of America’s paranoia about illegal immigration and national security, as the Department of Homeland Security moves to seal the US-Mexico border.
“It’s potentially catastrophic for the species’ recovery prospects in the northern part of its range,” explains Michael Robinson, who monitors jaguars for the Centre for Biological Diversity.
Steel fences, which have begun to appear along part of the 3138km border, would strand existing jaguars in the US, prevent others from increasing the nascent population, and limit the cat’s gene pool.
Last June, the American Society of Mammalogists said jaguars could survive in the US only if they could roam across the border. This charismatic animal is one of 30 species - including pronghorn antelope [see also here], ocelots, bears and wolves - environmentalists say would suffer from a solid fence.
This barrier would also devastate ecosystems, repaired in schemes costing millions of dollars, and wreck bustling eco-tourism in struggling communities.
And here.
And here.
AFL-CIO blog on this: here.
US wildlife agency killed 1.6 million animals in 2006: here.
Jaguars in Argentina: here.
The proposed border fence will not solve the problem it supposedly will fix and will lead untold environmental destruction along the border. And you can kiss the US jaguar goodbye if this monstrosity gets built.
REPLY by blog administrator [Sorry, I put it here, as my anti comment spam software is playing up]: Hi Bill, thanks for commenting. I agree. People in Texas are protesting; see here
Comment by Bill — August 20, 2007 @ 4:00 pm
Hi Bill, I added your interesting jaguar blog to my RSS files.
Comment by Administrator — August 20, 2007 @ 4:21 pm
Hi Kitty, tried to comment on this post, but I was told that I was posting spam.
Author : Jon Nelson
I’ve visited the sky islands in Arizona many times. In addition to the idiotic border fence, urban development around Tucson has wiped out the large quadrapeds (sheep and goats) in the mountains around the city.
ADMINISTRATOR: Hi Jon, sorry for the over sensitive anti spam software. I have retrieved your welcome comment here.
Comment by Jon Nelson — August 21, 2007 @ 6:27 am