Panthera Launches Critical Conservation Program to Save Mexico's Threatened Jaguars
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In the rst expedition, Panthera’s jaguar team traversed Mexico’s Laguna de Terminos Natural Protected Area and the Terminos-Calakmul Corridor – part of the country’s largest jaguar population, in the Yucatan Peninsula, and feeding into Belize and Guatemala. Next month, Panthera’s scientists will travel on foot and by mule from the mountain ranges of southeastern Arizona into Sonora and the Sierra Madre Mountains to assess the area’s unique threats and greatest conservation needs. Encouraged by the Mexican government, Panthera will meet with local collaborators and conservationists and assess Panthera Launches Critical Conservation Program and propose the creation and expansion of Mexico’s protected areas in ways that will enhance current conservation initiatives and the establishment of training programs to mitigate human-jaguar conict, boost local economies and to Save Mexico’s Threatened Jaguars recruit and employ Mexican nationals as guardians of the nation’s jaguars. Panthera Media Contact: Karen Wood, [email protected], (+1) 978-857-5389 As spotlighted in recent news coverage, Mexico serves as the source population for jaguars moving north into Arizona, including a male jaguar known as ‘El Jefe,’ documented in the Santa Rita Mountains. The Trump administration’s propo- March 3, 2017 sal to construct a border wall dividing the United States and Mexico has drawn extensive criticism and controversy due to its potential impact on wildlife like the jaguar and other wild cats. New York, NY – Panthera, the global wild cat conservation organization, has launched a new and critically-timed conser- Panthera’s Jaguar Corridor Initiative seeks to connect and protect jaguar populations living within human-dominated vation program in Mexico to ensure the long-term survival of the Americas’ largest and most revered wild cat – the landscapes from Mexico to Argentina. The Mexico program expansion solidies Panthera’s ocial conservation elusive jaguar. Established as an ocial Panthera conservation and fundraising arm in Mexico City, Panthera Mexico is footprint in more than half of the 18 jaguar range states. led by Country Director, Diana Friedeberg, who joins the team with extensive training in biology and water conservation. All contributions to Panthera Mexico will directly support in-country jaguar conservation initiatives. Panthera Mexico will continue to implement the key conservation initiatives codied in a Memorandum of Understan- ding signed by Panthera and the Senate in April 2015. In collaboration with the National Commission of Protected About the Jaguar Corridor Natural Areas (CONANP), local NGOs and university partners, Panthera Mexico will identify and expand protection of Panthera’s Jaguar Corridor Initiative is the only conservation program to date which seeks to protect jaguars across their key biological corridors connecting Mexico’s jaguar populations in-country and into Central America, and implement entire six million km2 range. In partnership with governments, corporations and local communities, Panthera’s Jaguar community-based conservation initiatives employing Mexican biologists and boosting local economies to stem the Corridor Initiative is working to preserve the genetic integrity of the jaguar by connecting and protecting core jaguar direct killing of jaguars. populations in human landscapes from northern Mexico to northern Argentina. Since 2008, Panthera has worked to conrm the current distribution of the jaguar, the areas of connectivity between About Panthera populations within Mexico, including corridors south of the Sierra Madre Oriental, Sinaloa and Lacandon, and the Panthera, founded in 2006, is devoted exclusively to preserving wild cats and their critical role in the world’s ecosystems. trans-boundary jaguar populations of Guatemala and Belize. Panthera’s team of leading biologists, law enforcement experts and wild cat advocates develop innovative strategies based on the best available science to protect cheetahs, jaguars, leopards, lions, pumas, snow leopards and tigers and Panthera Mexico Director, Diana Friedeberg, said, “Mexico serves as the origin and northernmost frontier of the jaguar’s their vast landscapes. In 50 countries around the world, Panthera works with a wide variety of stakeholders to reduce or range, existing as one of the most crucial connecting blocks for jaguar populations in Central and South America. eliminate the most pressing threats to wild cats—securing their future, and ours. Panthera Mexico is looking forward to working with CONANP and our Mexican partners to advance our understanding of the movement of jaguars throughout protected areas and corridors in Mexico, and to put in place the interventions necessary to ensure their future. Together, we can help to preserve Mexico’s enormous potential as a stronghold for jaguars and a critical link in the Jaguar Corridor.” Today, the species is increasingly threatened by widespread agricultural development that consumes jaguar habitat and fragments populations, leading to isolation and potential loss of the crucial genetic connectivity that the species needs to thrive. As humans and jaguars come in ever-closer contact, the direct killing of jaguars in retaliation for cattle losses and widespread illegal hunting are on the rise. Panthera CEO Dr. Alan Rabinowitz, said, “From the ancient Mayans to modern day Mexico, the jaguar is celebrated as the most enduring symbol and lifeblood of one of our world’s richest cultures. Despite its indomitable spirit, the jaguar is under siege from a matrix of threats that, if left unchecked, could further fragment and isolate populations of the species in Mexico, sending it into steep decline. What a tragic loss this would be for the Mexican people.” Rabinowitz continued, “Panthera is proud to join with this nation’s esteemed biologists in doubling down on the most critical conservation initiatives, ensuring coexistence between the people and jaguars of this great nation and the connection and protection of the jaguar’s last landscapes within Mexico.” To shine a light on the importance of the jaguar to ecosystems, economies and cultures throughout its range, Dr. Rabinowitz and Jaguar Program Executive Director Dr. Howard Quigley last week kicked o Panthera’s Jaguar Corridor Walk – a four-year, eleven-nation odyssey, beginning in Mexico. The Walk seeks to assess the state of the species, the integrity of its wild landscapes and the areas most in need of conservation attention along the Jaguar Corridor. In the rst expedition, Panthera’s jaguar team traversed Mexico’s Laguna de Terminos Natural Protected Area and the Terminos-Calakmul Corridor – part of the country’s largest jaguar population, in the Yucatan Peninsula, and feeding into Belize and Guatemala. Next month, Panthera’s scientists will travel on foot and by mule from the mountain ranges of southeastern Arizona into Sonora and the Sierra Madre Mountains to assess the area’s unique threats and greatest conservation needs. Encouraged by the Mexican government, Panthera will meet with local collaborators and conservationists and assess and propose the creation and expansion of Mexico’s protected areas in ways that will enhance current conservation initiatives and the establishment of training programs to mitigate human-jaguar conict, boost local economies and recruit and employ Mexican nationals as guardians of the nation’s jaguars. As spotlighted in recent news coverage, Mexico serves as the source population for jaguars moving north into Arizona, including a male jaguar known as ‘El Jefe,’ documented in the Santa Rita Mountains. The Trump administration’s propo- sal to construct a border wall dividing the United States and Mexico has drawn extensive criticism and controversy due to its potential impact on wildlife like the jaguar and other wild cats. New York, NY – Panthera, the global wild cat conservation organization, has launched a new and critically-timed conser- Panthera’s Jaguar Corridor Initiative seeks to connect and protect jaguar populations living within human-dominated vation program in Mexico to ensure the long-term survival of the Americas’ largest and most revered wild cat – the landscapes from Mexico to Argentina. The Mexico program expansion solidies Panthera’s ocial conservation elusive jaguar. Established as an ocial Panthera conservation and fundraising arm in Mexico City, Panthera Mexico is footprint in more than half of the 18 jaguar range states. led by Country Director, Diana Friedeberg, who joins the team with extensive training in biology and water conservation. All contributions to Panthera Mexico will directly support in-country jaguar conservation initiatives. Panthera Mexico will continue to implement the key conservation initiatives codied in a Memorandum of Understan- ding signed by Panthera and the Senate in April 2015. In collaboration with the National Commission of Protected About the Jaguar Corridor Natural Areas (CONANP), local NGOs and university partners, Panthera Mexico will identify and expand protection of Panthera’s Jaguar Corridor Initiative is the only conservation program to date which seeks to protect jaguars across their key biological corridors connecting Mexico’s jaguar populations in-country and into Central America, and implement entire six million km2 range. In partnership with governments, corporations and local communities, Panthera’s Jaguar community-based conservation initiatives employing Mexican biologists and boosting local economies to stem the Corridor Initiative is working