Jaguar and Puma in Brazilian Semi-Arid Region – Scapegoats for Weak Governance?

Martins, Cláudia Sofia Guerreiro; Schulz, Francine; Esteves, Carolina Franco; Marchini, Silvio

doi:10.33002/jelp01.02.04

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…To conserve jaguars in the Caatinga, immediate actions focused on long-term conservation and pursuing the One Conservation strategies are required. Therefore, in addition to implementing ecological corridors to connect subpopulations of jaguars in the Caatinga (Morato et al, 2014) and working with acceptance -or changing human communities' perceptions of jaguars (Martins et al, 2021Santos et al, 2007), it is required to establish a viable ex situ population of Caatinga jaguars. Even temporarily, it is vital to take free-living jaguars from the Caatinga to captivity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reproductive evaluation of Luisa, the last jaguar of the Caatinga

Requena,

Luczinski,

Traldi

et al. 2023

Anim. Reprod.

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The in situ population of jaguars in the Caatinga is less than 250 individuals, subdivided into five subpopulations, and is classified as endangered regarding its risk of extinction. Luisa, a 15-year-old female weighing 36 kg, was the last known ex situ jaguar from this biome. Her reproductive evaluation is detailed in this manuscript. Luisa was subjected to both a clinical and laparoscopic evaluation of her reproductive system. After 45 days of reproductive investigation, she died unexpectedly, and skin fragments were taken to establish the postmortem fibroblast lineage. At the clinical evaluation, Luisa had small, undeveloped mammary gland and a small vulva, characteristic of a nulliparous female, with no mammary gland nodules, edema, or abnormal masses. By laparoscopy, normal-appearing bladder and bowel loops were observed, as were uterine horns with standard color, shape, and length with no striae. Ovaries and uterine horns seem free of fibrinous adhesions. Both ovaries showed a yellowish color, a fibrous consistency, a decreased size (atrophied), and no follicles, hemorrhagic corpus, corpus luteum, luteal scars, or other abnormal structures. We may assume that this jaguar female was infertile based on Luisa's mature age and the absence of birthing or ovarian activity signs. The harsh conditions of the Caatinga biome, which included low food availability and frequent conflicts with humans, may have impacted both the pregnancy and lactation of Luisa's mother and her development after birth.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reproductive evaluation of Luisa, the last jaguar of the Caatinga

Requena,

Luczinski,

Traldi

et al. 2023

Anim. Reprod.

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“…The environmental conditions in the Caatinga, such as high air and soil temperatures, irregular rainfall, thorny and deciduous plants, and water scarcity result in adapted and resilient fauna, flora and local people (known as sertanejo in Portuguese). This scenario, intensified by economic, educational, and health challenges along with lack of governmental assistance (Martins et al, 2021), perpetuated a rural economic base sustained by extensive goat and sheep farming and small-scale agriculture. This was inherited from the colonial system with the sugar mills (large slave-owning properties with sugar cane plantations for processing and producing sugar and aguardente) in the coastal cities.…”

Section: Case Study-a Jaguar In the Brazilian Caatingamentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Repercussion of Translocating a Jaguar in Brazil

Martins¹,

Engel²,

Guimarães³

et al. 2022

Front. Conserv. Sci.

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The translocation of “problem-animals” is a common non-lethal strategy to deal with human-wildlife conflict. While processes of wildlife translocation have been widely documented, little is known about the social repercussions that take place once the capture and the return of a problem-animal to its natural habitat fail and it has to be permanently placed in captivity. We investigated how the public, an important stakeholder in wildlife conservation, perceived the translocation of a female jaguar to a wildlife captivity center. The objectives were to (1) assess the public's perceptions (e.g., attitudes, emotions, awareness) toward the jaguar and its translocation process, and (2) how these psychological constructs are related. We used the social media profiles of the three institutions involved in the process (one responsible for the jaguar rescues, one that supported its recovery, and the one responsible for the jaguar's final destination) and analyzed the comments left by their followers on posts related to the jaguar and the translocation itself during 25 days. A total of 287 comments were analyzed through coding, a categorizing strategy of qualitative analysis; 33 codes were identified. Results showed high admiration for the work done, positive attitudes and emotions, and concern toward the animal. Lack of awareness about the translocation process was high, with comments of curiosity toward the situation being one of the most commonly found. To a lesser extent, people felt sad for the jaguar not being able to return to the wild and criticized the need for translocation. Admiration for the work had a strong relation with gratitude and broader positive perceptions toward the jaguar's story. Criticism related to concern, which was also related to a need for more information and curiosity. Our findings suggest that the public who engaged with those institutions through their Instagram accounts were grateful for seeing the jaguar safe, but were not aware of the complexity of the operation nor about the nature of the conflict with farmers. The public can either reinforce a particular action or jeopardize an entire operation, depending on their perceptions of the matter. In the case of this jaguar, the public held a positive view; however, we acknowledge the limitations of our sample and recommend further analyses of social repercussions among people who are not followers of these organizations. Furthermore, we recommend engaging other stakeholders to fully understand the human dimensions of translocating this jaguar. Finally, for social acceptance, we highlight the importance of transparency and reliability of the organizations operating the translocation.

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