Jaguar

Jaguars are apex predators mainly active during the night and require a large amount of territory to survive. Unfortunately, deforestation and agricultural activities have been encroaching on jaguar territory, slowly shrinking the range of jaguars and isolating populations from one another. It is estimated that jaguars have lost approximately 50% of their historic range, with a 20% decline in a period of just 14 years, and have gone extinct in El Salvador and Uruguay.

Their habitats are becoming increasingly fragmented, meaning patches of habitat are decreasing in size and becoming increasingly isolated and less connected. The lands once ruled by jaguars are being destroyed by logging, large-scale agriculture, ranchland, and urban areas. Habitat fragmentation makes it incredibly difficult for these felines to hunt and mate, which poses a major threat to their population numbers and survival.

The illegal trade in jaguar pelts and parts has played a large role in their population decline over time. In the 1960s, around 15,000 jaguar pelts were sold annually in the Brazilian Amazon to supply international markets in North America and Europe. The hunting of jaguars for pelts was not officially outlawed until the 1970s when national and international protections were put in place prohibiting the hunting and sale of jaguars and their parts. 

Since then, international demand for jaguar parts, particularly jaguar pelts, has reduced considerably. However, illegal domestic markets for jaguar body parts remain, posing a considerable threat to the species. This market is largely driven by opportunistic encounters between people and jaguars, human-jaguar conflict, and cultural practices surrounding jaguar use. In recent years, seizures of jaguar teeth at airports and post offices across Latin America and abroad have suggested a re-emergence of international trade in jaguar parts, raising the alarm around the devastating impacts of trade on jaguar populations. In addition, advances in technology and connectivity have led to an increased ease of buyers and sellers connecting globally online, further facilitating the illegal trade in jaguar products. 

A new series of decisions aimed at eliminating jaguar poaching and trafficking, including online trade, were approved at CITES COP19 in 2022. CITES—a treaty signed by 184 nations to support sustainable trade in wildlife and plants while protecting endangered species. The decisions call for enhanced stakeholder engagement and collaboration, the establishment of conservation corridors, strengthened cooperation mechanisms, increased investments into the conservation of the jaguar, including its habitat, and raising awareness about the importance of this apex predator, its ecological role, and the threats it faces.