Why are some people or organizations upset about what happened to Macho B?
A. Macho B’s death is upsetting and disappointing for everyone involved in wildlife conservation. This jaguar has been a vivid part of our lives, albeit for most of us only through photographs and tracks, for 13 years. People care deeply about all wildlife, but perhaps particularly about endangered species, and Macho B was a magical symbol for all of those values. Unfortunately, some people and organizations are also using this unfortunate incident to try to politically influence the development of a recovery plan and designation of critical habitat for jaguars in the United States. The life or death of a single animal has no bearing on recovery of an entire species, especially whose breeding populations range from northern Mexico into Central America and all the way to Brazil and Argentina in South America.
