The big "oops" on Macho B

This story in Sunday's AZ Star discusses the legal issues surrounding the "take" of Macho B:

The permit came up in an e-mail exchange among Fish and Wildlife Service biologists in Tucson and Albuquerque on Feb. 20, two days after Macho B's capture. "Uh oh, the AGFD permit with the jaguar language expired in 2006. . . . The new one (good until 2011 . . . ) doesn't include any jaguar language," wrote Erin Fernandez, a biologist in Fish and Wildlife's Tucson office. "Since the capture was incidental to their other authorized activities, are they covered under the permit for future capture?"

In reply, Sarah Rinkevich, service biologist and a University of Arizona graduate student, said she thought the capture may have been covered, based on a state-federal endangered species agreement that is related to the endangered species permit.

"This is a big oops, however," Rinkevich added.

In a follow-up e-mail, Vanessa Martinez, in the service's Albuquerque office, said the federal regulations for endangered species allow any state agency to take an endangered species if there is a state-federal agreement in place, which she believed there was.

But while she thought the regulations left the agencies "covered" legally for an accidental jaguar capture, she still wondered if officials needed to amend the state endangered species permit "to include the jaguar part."

Basically, in plain language, it looks like the AZ Game and Fish Department might be able to finesse an interpretation where they cover their asses, but they probably really didn't have the legal right to do what they did in capturing Macho B. So, maybe the courts will side with the agency, and maybe they won't.

In our opinion, the big "oops" is the agency thinking that capturing and collaring Macho B was a good idea in the first place.