26 jaguars killed in Panama so far this year
26 jaguars killed in Panama so far this year
October 4, 2016
Ricardo Moreno, research associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama and director of the Yaguará Panamá Foundation, reported at the 20th Congress of the Mesoamerican Society for Biology and Conservation held recently in Belize that the number of jaguar killings in Panama is on the rise.
"We have evidence that cattle ranchers killed a minimum of 230 jaguars in Panama between 1989 and 2014," Moreno said. "We have reason to think that the actual number may be two- or three- times higher. In 2015, 23 jaguars were killed. In 2016, through September, 26 jaguars were killed."
Moreno and colleagues gathered reports of killings from a wide range of people, from tour guides to livestock owners. Most were in retaliation for predation on cattle, sheep and dogs.
At the meeting, researchers evaluated the conservation status of animals from Mexico through Panama and the health of forests in the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor stretching along the Atlantic coast of Central America. Moreno shared results gathered during camera-trap surveys conducted 2005-2014 by a team led by Ninon Meyer, then a doctoral student with Patrick Jansen, STRI staff scientist and professor at the University of Wageningen, in 15 national parks and forest fragments on both sides of the Panama Canal to assess to what degree the remaining forest still supports wildlife diversity.
More:
http://phys.org/news/2016-10-jaguars-panama-year.html#jCp
