Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: The Year of the Jaguar

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

GUATEMALA CITY, Jan 30 2006 (IPS) - Guatemala's environmental officials have declared 2006 the Year of the Jaguar as part of a campaign to raise a million dollars to protect the big cat species from extinction. “There are only about 250 left” of this species in Guatemala, Ana Noguera, executive secretary of the Council on Protected Areas, CONAP, told Tierramérica.

The funds collected this year will go towards research and protecting the jaguar, she said.

According to CONAP, the jaguar (Panthera onca) lives in the protected area of the Maya Biosphere in the northern department of Petén, though there are others in southern Mexico and Belize.

Noguera also noted that this mammal is endangered in large part due to illegal hunting, and trafficking of its meat, skin and even its claws.