Indigenous guardians fight to save Amazon’s vanishing jaguars

By Neil Giardino

BUFEO COCHA, Peru (AA) – Lloyd Manuyama was 10 years old when he first came into direct contact with the Amazon’s most enigmatic and feared predator. He was trailing behind his younger sister along a forested path when she stopped cold, then shrieked.

Mere yards away, a stealthy, muscular jaguar gazed at the child. Partially obscured by the jungle’s undergrowth, the animal appeared to be tracking her movements, ready to ambush, recalls Manuyama, now 34.

Reflexively, he grabbed a stick and threw it in the jaguar’s direction.

“It locked eyes with me. I grabbed another stick and threw it at the jaguar. It fell back on its haunches, then fled,” recounted Manuyama. “If I wasn’t there at that moment, my sister might have been its prey.”

Over two decades later, in Manuyama’s Indigenous Tikuna village of Bufeo Cocha, located along a remote tributary of the Amazon River just 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from the Colombian border, such close-range sightings of jaguars have become increasingly rare.

Throughout the Amazon basin and beyond, a loss of habitat triggered by deforestation, wildfires, illegal loggers, miners, farmers and a metastasized drug trade are contributing to a steady decline in jaguar populations.

The species is further threatened by the poaching and international trafficking of their pelts, fangs and claws, much of it driven by demand in Asian markets and traded through illicit online channels and in regional markets throughout the Amazon and beyond.

The jaguar is deeply anchored into the spiritual worldview of Indigenous peoples throughout the Amazon basin. The felines are woven into creation myths and closely tied to Indigenous interpretations of the afterlife.

Many of Manuyama’s Tikuna relatives in Bufeo Cocha believe that upon death, human beings transform into jaguars.

Despite this spiritual link to the jaguar, a deeply rooted fear of these large cats also pervades. Retaliation hunting – the killing of jaguars to avenge the death of livestock or because of perceived threats from rare attacks by jaguars on humans – is common among Indigenous groups.

“We grew up hearing stories of them devouring children, women and the elderly while they were out on their farms. We were always told that jaguars were to be feared; that they fed on people,” said Manuyama.

But that intimate, fleeting encounter with the jaguar in his childhood left a meaningful imprint on Manuyama’s life. To witness the elusive jaguar so close, he said, heartened him to help conserve this species.

“Historically, there’s been so much killing of jaguars in the Amazon. It’s always bothered me, makes me angry. From that day, I grew up with a mentality to conserve them,” he said.

- A barometer of forest health

Jaguars are the third largest feline on the planet, after tigers and lions, and the largest cat species in the Americas. Their habitat extends from the Brazilian Pantanal to tropical jungles throughout South America’s nine Amazon nations.

Pound for pound, jaguars have the strongest bite force of any large cat. Their immense jaw strength can make quick work of solid bones, braincasings and even turtle shells. They are adaptive hunters, with over 85 distinct species having been found in their diet, including armadillos, deer, capybaras and snakes.

Classified as “near threatened,” there are an estimated 173,000 jaguars remaining in the world today, with populations having declined by at least 20-25% since 1990, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which tracks the health of species.

In Peru, there are an estimated 22,000 jaguars, the second largest population after Brazil.

Adroit swimmers, climbers and masterful hunters, jaguars are the forest’s apex predators, critical in controlling populations of other species and balancing the food chain.

The jaguar’s presence is often an indicator of healthy forests, said Priscila Peralta Aguilar, a conservationist and veterinarian who studies jaguar populations in Peru’s Amazon.

She told Anadolu that if the jaguar were to disappear from the top of this food chain, smaller mammals would overconsume vegetation near the forest floor, degrading the land and preventing healthy forest regeneration.

“Top predators like jaguars help maintain the equilibrium of the forest,” said Peralta Aguilar. “When we see jaguars, it usually indicates the forests are healthy.”

But Peralta Aguilar warned that as human settlements continue to encroach on jaguar habitat, their natural prey – including wild game like peccary and other species – are increasingly depleted by hunting. This in turn forces jaguars to consume livestock and other domesticated animals in nearby villages, placing them at risk of poaching.

- Crime networks drive wildlife decline

Another more insidious threat in recent years has come from the illicit drug trade. Near Manuyama’s village of Bufeo Cocha, an expanding cocaine trade has led to the destruction of forests, reducing jaguar and other species’ habitat.

Last month, a joint military operation between Peru and Colombia targeted a cocaine trafficking operation in the Loreto region, destroying nearly 3,000 kilograms (6,600 pounds) of cocaine sulfate – an intermediate product in cocaine processing – along with more than 6,000 kilograms of chemicals used in its production and seizing weapons and currency valued at nearly $500,000.

According to experts, the presence of drug traffickers and other illegal actors in remote Amazon regions has contributed to a drop in jaguar populations.

High profits and low risk also make the illegal jaguar trade attractive to criminal networks already invested in other illicit trades across Mexico, Panama and Colombia, according to a study by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

- Indigenous communities step in as guardians

Experts agree that when Indigenous territories are safeguarded, large areas of jaguar habitat, as well as that of other imperiled species, are better protected.

As stewards of these remote territories, Indigenous communities can play an integral role in monitoring and deterring exploitation, and ensuring the sustainable use of natural resources.

On a recent afternoon, Manuyama and members of his Tikuna community in Bufeo Cocha donned jaguar masks and face paint. They danced, painted murals, and held workshops on the importance of jaguar conservation in their region.

Alongside the Peruvian nonprofit Renace, they were participating in a festival meant to honor the jaguar and teach Tikuna villagers about the vital role jaguars play in forest ecosystems.

Amid dance and other art performances, village leaders like Chely Pena Castillo led dialogue on the importance of human-jaguar coexistence in Indigenous territories, while educating villagers on the illegal trade of jaguar parts.

“My mother and father taught me that jaguars are dangerous. That’s why they killed them. Today, our mentality has changed. We know that outsiders are coming into the forest and threatening them,” said Pena Castillo, 40.

“It’s our responsibility to conserve and care for them. As leaders, we have to teach our people the importance of our forests and animals.”