Illegal Jaguar Parts Trade Reaches Mexico, Experts Warn

Mexico — Researchers are alerting that fangs, bones, and skins of jaguars, valued between ten and fifteen thousand dollars, are being sold in the illegal Chinese market, one of the main reasons why Mexico has one of the most threatened populations, and their conservation is highly prioritized, experts warn.

Rodrigo Medellín Legorreta, a researcher at the Institute of Ecology of UNAM, indicates that the Chinese market has already depleted populations of tigers, leopards, and lions. He adds that it is now targeting the large “cats” of the American continent, starting with the jaguar.

He relates that this situation began three years ago in Bolivia, spread to Peru, the Guianas, and Belize, but this year it reached Mexico.

And he says that we already have the first evidence: “This year, around May, one of my groups monitoring jaguar activity in the Lacandon Jungle informed me of a regrettable event; there was a jaguar that we had been tracking for three years and had named Pacman because it had a spot in that shape; they found it without a head and without claws, which indicates that the illegal trade, unfortunately, has already reached us.”

He indicates that the teeth of this feline are used for jewelry, while the bones are used for Chinese medicine, and the skins are made into clothing or carpets.

Other Causes

The jaguar is the largest feline in America and the third in the world, after the lion and the tiger. It inhabits from almost desert areas to tropical jungles, like the Amazon.

In Mexico, this species is distributed from the tropical jungles of the southeast to the Rio Grande and from the Sierra Madre Occidental of the Pacific coast to the borders with Belize and Guatemala.

Gerardo Ceballos, president of the National Alliance for Jaguar Conservation (ANCJ), points out that another of the main threats is conflict hunting, meaning jaguars prey on livestock from communities, forcing them to hunt the specimen even though they know it is prohibited and is a federal crime.

“The center of this conflict is the consumption of livestock by the jaguar, causing the small groups of felines that still survive to be subjected to persecution and finally death,” he alerts.

The researcher notes that habitat destruction is another cause of the species’ extinction, as changing land use from natural area to agriculture or extensive livestock farming means the jaguar living in those ecosystems, having no more natural prey available, such as white-tailed deer and collared peccary, to eat, seeks to satisfy its basic needs by preying on livestock.

“That is, livestock provides new prey and a new way to satisfy its needs,” he explains.

What to Do?

According to the specialists, although Mexico has made important advances in the conservation of the species, positioning itself ahead of other countries in the region, there is still much work to be done.

One of their main requests—made jointly by academia and various NGOs—to the federal government is to avoid reducing the budget for environmental funds, as it is used for habitat preservation and species conservation.

In this regard, Gerardo Ceballos emphasizes that the environmental issue is one of national security.

“The cut represents that we can lose well-being in the short, medium, and long term; there is no way to have greater well-being if we continue losing flora and fauna.”

He details that they have established an agreement with federal authorities to develop a strategy for protecting the feline in the Yucatan Peninsula, where the largest population of jaguars in Mexico resides.

“There is the beginning of an invasion of this illegal market of teeth, bones, skins, and claws of jaguar in Mexico. And only work with international collaboration, landowners, and authorities in the country can be the only way we stop this terrible advance,” he points out.

Among the lines of action they propose are the expansion of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, working in collaboration with the National Guard to stop the illegal logging of precious woods, as well as establishing wildlife crossings to mitigate the impacts of the Maya Train project.

“This year we have advanced in making more complete studies of how many wildlife crossings are needed to mitigate the impact from the construction of highways and those that already exist. We have precise information on where they should go; there are two objectives: one is to maintain and link biological corridors, and the other, to conserve reserves like Calakmul, which at this moment is divided in two by a federal highway, and the idea is that with this we can restore it,” indicates the also UNAM researcher.

Project

As part of the allied programs in the conservation of the species, the organization Naturalia AC seeks to replicate through Operation Jaguar its experience in the creation and management of the Northern Jaguar Reserve—the first private reserve that protects the species and its habitat in Mexico—located in Sonora.

Its director, Óscar Moctezuma, explains that this model has managed to keep the habitat of many species maintained under the flag of jaguar conservation, thus ensuring the continuity of ecological processes and the environmental services provided by Mexico’s native ecosystems.

The first reserve created under the Operation Jaguar strategy was established this year by Naturalia in Sonora, with support from the World Land Trust organization from the United Kingdom. Naturalia intends to create at least two new reserves, one in Nayarit and another in Quintana Roo.

The jaguar lives in 18 of the 21 Latin American countries, and according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), “only 64 thousand specimens remain in the wild,” 90% of them in the Amazon. It is because of this that care and preservation measures are important in the country.

The sale of jaguar fangs and other parts of the feline has been documented on e-commerce platforms like Mercado Libre and Facebook in Mexico, and this is an illegal practice. The jaguar is a protected species and its trade is prohibited.

Key Aspects About Illegal Sale

Legal Status: The jaguar is a protected species in Mexico, and its international trade for commercial purposes has been prohibited since 1975 by CITES. Mexican legislation, through the General Wildlife Law (LGVS), only allows the commercialization of species that are not at risk and that come from authorized Environmental Management Units (UMAs), which is highly regulated and not the generalized case of online sales.

Reports and Studies: Studies conducted by organizations like WWF and the Mexican Association of Mastozoology (AMMAC) between 2016 and 2023 detected 84 cases of illegal sale of jaguar parts (mainly claws, fangs, and skins) in 16 states of the country through digital platforms.

Modus Operandi: Online sales are usually opportunistic, often linked to poaching as retaliation for livestock predation, or as part of national and international trafficking networks.

Platform Actions: Mercado Libre, in collaboration with organizations like WWF, has implemented measures to combat the illegal wildlife trade, but illegal sellers continue to find ways to post their products.

What to do if you see an illegal post: If you identify posts offering jaguar parts or other protected species, you can and should report it to the competent authorities: PROFEPA: It is the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection in Mexico. You can file a complaint through its website, by email, or by phone: Phone: 800-776 33 72, Email: denuncias@profepa.gob.mx, Website: bit.ly/3RyAZKt.

On the platform: You can also report the post directly on Mercado Libre (or any other social network) using their mechanisms for reporting prohibited posts or articles.