Drug traffickers wiping out the jaguar in Central America

[Judi Lynn]

Drug traffickers wiping out the jaguar in Central America
Benjamin Reeves, GlobalPost 11:17 a.m. EDT July 29, 2015


[font size=1]
AP BRAZIL CLONING WILD ANIMALS I BRA

(Photo: Eraldo Peres, AP)
[/font]
EL PINO, Honduras — The jaguar roams jungles and riverbanks from the Amazon to Mexico, and even into the southwestern United States. It’s a powerful and cunning hunter, and a single cat’s territory can stretch hundreds of miles. The Aztecs called their most fearsome warriors “ocelotl” — jaguar soldiers.

But now the jaguar is being defeated by a ruthless, modern-day warrior of a different sort: Powerful drug cartels are carving up its Central American natural habitat. In some areas, particularly in Honduras and Guatemala, the big cats are at risk of disappearing entirely.

“Drug dealing in Honduras is definitely affecting jaguar conservation,” said Jorge Guardia, a conservationist with a major international environmental NGO in Honduras (his name has been changed and his employer’s identity concealed for fears of attacks by narco-traffickers). “Habitat destruction is the No. 1 threat, and money from drugs is fueling illegal activities in protected areas — mainly cattle ranching.”

Honduras and Guatemala are at the epicenter of the global drug trade. They’ve also experienced some of the most extreme habitat loss in Latin America. In Honduras, the jaguar population is estimated at two per 39 square miles of habitat. By comparison, in neighboring Belize the population stands at 11 per 39 square miles.

More:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/07/29/globalpost-drug-traffickers-wiping-out-jaguar-central-america/30826811/

[stuntcat]

1. but cattle ranching it's totes important

illegal or not, men need meat!