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In 2006, the service argued that jaguars were primarily native to South and Central America and that their range in the United States was largely incidental to its survival.
Wildlife advocates sued to protest those findings, pointing out that jaguars were thought to have once ranged from Louisiana to California, although they had rarely been seen in recent decades.
Last March, the Federal District Court in Tucson told the government that it would have to come back with a decision that was soundly based in science.
In theory, the service could have sought again to rule out habitat conservation. But this time the government said it would move to protect critical habitat and would publish a description of the land proposed for the designation.
It also agreed to develop a formal recovery plan, which will envision how the jaguar might make a recovery.
The Fish and Wildlife Service says there are no known jaguars in the United States today. The last jaguar known to exist within the nation’s borders died last March.
However, there are nearly 5,000 in Mexico, and more ranging as far south as Argentina and Paraguay.
The notion behind a critical habitat designation is to enable the jaguar to survive if it ranges north again."
Check out the entire article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/13/science/earth/13jaguar.html?ref=science
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