Save the Jaguar! The beautiful predator of the wild needs your help!

Earlier the jaguar could live happily everywhere between Arizona and Argentina, but their number decreased drastically because of the so much hunt and the destruction of their habitat. Humans know it worldwide that the jaguar is endangered and that it's a difficult job to save a dangerous predator. Because of this, only a few groups do anything to give this beautiful animal the life it deserves. Luckily you're here to read on and just think about it, and if you feel so, you can take action as well!

The jaguar looks like a huge leopard. His fur is yellow and brown with big spots and flowers, but there are some black ones too. The jaguar's hunting ground is on the margin of the rainforests (because in the inside there isn't enough prey for him), or near the shore of lakes and rivers. At daylight the jaguar usually sleeps and he hunts only at night. His favourite types of meals are the deer, the tapir, and the monkey, but he also hunts for rodents, fishes, lizards, or sometimes domestic animals (like cows). Scientists know very little about the wild jaguar's social behaviour or about their reproduction habits because it is very hard to observe them while they are not in captivity.

The rainforests of South America are dissappearing fastly. People cut down trees for firewood or building material, they burn the undergrowth to make place for the new roads, villages or industrial yards. According to the 'Friends of Earth' environmentalist group's survey, only in the 1989's forest-fires 5,000 square meter of the jungles were perished per second...and the deforestation continues.

Because of this, many of the locals have to give up their home and their lifestyle. Another danger factor of the deforestationis the flood, because there are no plants to stop the precipitation, and the water washes out the flossy soil and makes huge moors. At top of these the biggest problem is the killing of the autochthonal species like the jaguar.

For the jaguar, who is on the top of the food-chain, the deforestation is lethal. He loses his hunting ground and his preys too. Many of the young jaguars don't live more then a few weeks because their mother can not feed them.

The other danger factor is the hunting. People set up traps and hunt with guns for the jaguars. The jaguar's amazing fur was very much in demand in the fashion, like the leopard's or the ocelot's fur. In 1968 there were more than 39,000 jaguar-fur in trade, only in the United States 13,000 furs were sold. Since 1973, when some countries of the world made the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species), the jaguar-fur is illegal in the most of the countries. Because of the new rights, the work of the WWF (World Wide Found for Nature) and other environmentalist groups, the hunting decreased, but it is far from breaking off.

Even if the number of the jaguars have decreased drastically, the jaguar is only categorized as 'Vulnerable' animal and not 'Endangered' in the Red Book. The biggest jaguar-stock (about 3000 animal) lives in Venezuela, in the Upper Orinoco-Valley. The jaguar is a prolific animal, so it can reproduce fast if he is not hunted or he's hunting area is not in danger. Alas in a few country is legal to hunt for jaguars, and for example in Paraguay people make big and spectacular jaguar-hunts for tourists (with big pocket).

Many countries plan to make reserves and national parks for the biggest protection of the jaguar or other animals. A full-grown jaguar needs more then 100 square kilometer hunting area for him and his family and this is not easy to guarantee in a national park. Because of the high prices of the illegal jaguar-fur, the poachers can kill the whole stock of a little reservation. The big national parks, like the Peruvian 'Manu', or the Brazilian 'Jau' are more successful by this way. In the Belizean 'Cocksomb' Reserve (what is sponsored by the Jaguar Cars Ltd.) there are about 20 jaguar, but they are very shy so it is difficult to count them exactly.

For the survival of the jaguar, people have to understand that it is not a big glory to have an illegal jaguar-fur. If the requests decrease, the poachers will have to give up the hunts. If you can, then please help the jaguar and make something good for our planet!