The US' determination to halt illegal immigration across its border with Mexico is set to claim an unusual victim -- the jaguar.
The US government has just vetoed a plan to save the species, Panthera onca, one of the world's most endangered, and beautiful, large cats -- and activists blame the Bush administration for its determination to cut illegal immigration from Mexico.
"The US is building a wall along the border to keep out immigrants. But that would stop jaguars crossing the border and entering the US. We wanted to set up refuges over here and create breeding populations that might save the species, but the government has said `no way.' It doesn't want anything interfering with that wall," said Kieran Suckling, of the US Center for Biological Diversity.
"Yet the US is the animals' best hope of avoiding extinction. Its numbers are declining alarmingly today. But now that chance has been blocked -- for political reasons," he said.
Jaguars were once common across the southern US -- as well as in Central and South America -- but were wiped out in the US in the 1960s. The last animal was shot in 1963. In other countries it has clung on, but numbers have begun to decline dramatically in recent years.
However, conservationists were recently delighted to discover several jaguars had been returning to New Mexico and Arizona from Mexico -- probably because global warming was changing their habitat.
Suckling and his colleagues then prepared plans to use these stray jaguars as the core for a breeding population, but have just been told by the US Fish and Wildlife Service their plan will not be adopted.
"The Bush administration doesn't like the idea of reintroducing species and it doesn't want anything getting in the way of its Mexican wall," he said. "Our jaguar scheme would have needed gaps in the wall, and that was deemed unacceptable."
Yet the US, although it killed off its jaguars, is the animals' best chance for survival, say biologists. The US has wild places, is now ecology-conscious, and has organisations that could protect the animal.
"Other countries don't have the resources to save the jaguar. We do and have done so with other species, like the grey wolf, but are now being blocked for political reasons," Suckling said.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
Africa has established the continent’s first space agency to boost Earth observation and data sharing at a time when a more hostile global context is limiting the availability of climate and weather information. The African Space Agency opened its doors last month under the umbrella of the African Union and is headquartered in Cairo. The new organization, which is still being set up and hiring people in key positions, is to coordinate existing national space programs. It aims to improve the continent’s space infrastructure by launching satellites, setting up weather stations and making sure data can be shared across
RSS