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Seeking a conservation plan to protect the American jaguar, one of the rarest animals native to Arizona, Defenders of Wildlife has sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and several ranking officials.

The federal suit comes six months after Fish and Wildlife ruled there would be no recovery plan for the American jaguar, saying such action would not help the cats return to the region.

In its suit, Defenders of Wildlife argues Southern Arizona and New Mexico are crucial areas in the jaguar's habitat. The construction of a border fence, particularly without a recovery plan, will all but eliminate the jaguar's presence to the region.

The "decision not to prepare a recovery plan for the jaguar is especially shortsighted in light of the current pronounced threats faced by the species within the U.S., most notably ongoing and proposed border-wall construction that would block jaguar migratory corridors along the U.S.-Mexico border that are essential to the species' continued existence in this country," the suit says. "Much of this border wall is being constructed without any environmental review."

Efforts to reach a Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Wednesday afternoon were unsuccessful.

While the prospect of a border fence certainly ups the ante, Craig Miller, Southwest representative for Defenders of Wildlife, said there has been a need for a plan since 1997, when the American Jaguar was placed on the Endangered Species List.

Fish and Wildlife has been slow to adopt conservation plans for species whose habitats span international borders, he said.

"This is symptomatic of a broader trend within this administration's Fish and Wildlife Service to remove protections for wildlife which have ranges that span international borders," Miller said.

The American jaguar at one time roamed from Monterey Bay to the Appalachian Mountains and from the Grand Canyon to well into Central and South America.

For decades, the big cats have hardly been seen in the U.S., with rare sightings in Southern Arizona and New Mexico.

This scarcity is one of the reasons Fish and Wildlife called the American jaguar a "foreign" species that could not be recovered in the U.S., according to the suit.

Lately, though, jaguar sightings have become slightly more common, suggesting any jaguars appearing near the U.S.-Mexico border are living in the region and not merely passing through it, the suit says.

Trail cameras placed in Arizona between 2001 and 2007 captured 69 photographs of jaguars, five video clips and 28 sets of tracks, according to the suit.

And while the Southwest U.S. represents the northern edge of the jaguar's habitat, Miller said developing a conservation plan in the U.S. is crucial for those jaguars throughout the northern range in Mexico. The jaguar is losing habitat to the south in Argentina, he said, and there is also the threat of climate change and development.

"The importance of the northern range is increasing because of the changes in human activities and land use and also climate change," Miller said. "We believe that in order to preserve jaguars to make sure they have a future throughout their northern range, that habitat is essential to their recovery."

The suit notes the Fish and Wildlife Service has, in the past, extended recovery plans for wildlife species that have much larger ranges outside the U.S. It also states that, in the past, Fish and Wildlife has considered the jaguar a domestic animal.

Defenders of Wildlife's suit will likely be joined with a similar suit filed by the Center of Biological Diversity in 2007.