The fine people at the Arizona Game and Fish department

From Dennis Wagner writing at Arizona Central:

Macho B: Cover-up amid celebrations
News in early 2009 that the nation�s only known wild jaguar had been �accidentally� snared and collared by Arizona Game and Fish Department employees set off a celebration among state wildlife officials.

At the same time, environmentalists at organizations such as the Center for Biological Diversity and Sky Island Alliance were livid because they feared the aging cat would not survive.

Still, it was a historic event, and potentially profitable: The ability to track a jaguar known as Macho B would make the state agency and its contractors clear favorites to win a multimillion-dollar research grant. It would bring prestige to scientists and administrators involved. And it might provide valuable information about the border travels and habitat of an endangered species.

It's always about the Benjamins... More (Thorry is Thornton �Thorry� Smith):

Although Game and Fish officials claimed Macho B�s capture was accidental, McCain actually set the snare along a favored trail and baited it with scat from a female jaguar in heat. Then he flew to Europe to visit his girlfriend, leaving Smith and another Game and Fish employee to check the traps.

Macho B was caught on Feb. 18, 2009. Smith promptly shared the news with Ron Thompson, the Game and Fish administrator overseeing carnivores, who fired an e-mail to McCain in Spain, announcing: �Thorry did it!�

As word spread, congratulatory messages contained a hint of conspiracy. McCain received one e-mail from a co-worker who wrote, �And just think, he was an �incidental� take. The hell with politics.�

The answer: �Yes, it was incidental, and you know that. Right? I had nothing to do with this right? And neither did Ron.�

Thompson then issued a warning about indiscreet messages: �Emil, be aware that we cannot use the government email to communicate with you. Sky Island (Alliance) is calling it a conspiracy, and for the first time they are right!�

And of course, Macho B is in perfect health:

McCain held off calls for a recapture until March 1, when a hasty attempt was made. Hunters located Macho B about 2miles from the snare site. When they fired a tranquilizer dart at him, it bounced off and spiraled through the air, spewing anesthesia as the cat vanished into brush.

One day later, a posse moved in. The jaguar was treed by hounds, then darted from a helicopter. It had lost 20 pounds in less than two weeks. A hind leg was swollen with infection.

Macho B was flown to the Phoenix Zoo, diagnosed with kidney failure and put to sleep within hours.

�He died a very slow and painful death for 12 days,� Brun would note later in an online article. �His stomach was empty, he was dehydrated. I can�t imagine what he went through.�

There is an investigation, a 3,441 page criminal case file and five people were cited. Some of them got off -- one is writing a book. One is on probation and is currently out of the country. One retired early. A sordid tale of a government agency out of control but what is new with that...