The promised listing never happened. In 1982 the proposal was quietly withdrawn and hope for the jaguar faded away- until 1994, when the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity filed suit. Not surprisingly, the agency failed to finalize the listing, prompting another Southwest Center lawsuit in 1996. Make no mistake. State conservation plans and cooperative agreement scan protect imperiled species.
State agencies can show the feds how to conserve wildlife.
But to do so, the states must ensure concrete habitat protection and strong anti-poaching laws. That's where the Jaguar Conservation Plan falls short. It's most concrete provision is a plan for a slide show and an educational brochure. The jaguar has been betrayed by 30 years of false promises. Like the Mexican gray wolf and the Apache trout, it deserves the full protection of the Endangered Species Act.