The southwestern state of Arizona has fired an employee after an internal investigation into the capture and death of the jaguar.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department said that 40-year-old Thornton W. Smith was a field biologist and had been with the agency 12 years.

He was involved in the placement and monitoring of traps used in a black bear and mountain lion research project that resulted in the initial capture of the jaguar called "Macho B."