by Rod Hughes
A PanAmerican Highway for jaguars? (The cats, not the British cars.)
That is exactly what environmental scientists are planning, to save Central America’s biggest and most noble native feline, now teetering on the edge of extinction. For example, only an estimated 50 jaguars still roam Costa Rica, mostly in the Osa Peninsula, where they are hunted for their beautiful fur, while their chief food, wild boar, are also being eliminated.
The idea is to create a corredor up through the Central American countries to allow safe passage to the big cats, allowing them to roam and mix with others of the species. This ensures a healthy gene pool. If the population drops too much, the inbreeding of a species results in susceptability to diseases that would normally not effect the animals. The plan is to pay farmers to leave part of their land undeveloped and to leave the jaguar unmolested.
This part, the education of farmers (especially cattlemen), may be the hardest to attain. Farmers are under the misconception that jaguars frequently raid cattle herds and will shoot the cats on sight. Actually, the preferred prey are wild boar and tapirs, much safer meals than a Brahma-cross range cow protecting her calf. Jaguars are also timid around humans.
But much more information about these secretive animals is needed, including that recorded by motion-activated cameras. Last year four environmentalists began to establish a corredor between Corcovado National Park and Osa’s Piedras Blancas Park.
(More information may be obtained in The Tico Times English-language newspaper coming out next Friday, July 27.