IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Crawshaw Jr., P.G. | |
| Human-induced mortality and jaguar conservation: the Pantanal and Igua‡u National Park in Brazil | |
| 2002 Book Chapter | |
The situation regarding jaguar (_Panthera onca_) conservation in the Pantanal and in Igua‡u National Park is presented and compared, at the time of research conducted in these areas and in present day. Even though jaguars had been almost extinct in large areas of the Pantanal between 1975 and 1985, the species has made a remarkable comeback, apparently due to a retraction of the cattle industry, the main economic activity of the area, combined with some high flood years. As a result, there are fewer people working and living at the ranches, while some cattle in almost feral state supplement food to the jaguar, in addition to the native species, some of whose populations have also increased. Ecotourism has been incorporated in an increasing number of ranches as an additional source of income. Jaguar sightings are more common now than in the early 80's. In Igua‡u, on the other hand, mortality of jaguar, already shown as high in a recent study, seems to be escalating, together with that of its main prey, the white-lipped peccary. The only hope to maintain a population of this large cat in the area is to revert the present control practiced by neighboring ranchers, allegedly to curb (and mostly to prevent) livestock depredation, to increase considerably law enforcement to protect wildlife within the park, and to maintain a protected corridor (allowing for natural dispersal of subadult jaguars) with the string of protected areas of subtropical forest in Misiones, Argentina. |
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