Wildlife Conservation Insights | Paso Pacifico Blog

Help Save Nicaragua’s Last Jaguars

Jaguars are among the most charismatic and important large carnivores in Latin America. However, they have lost much of their range to human activities like logging and ranching, which destroy their habitat and reduce their populations. Additionally, they are subject to hunting and persecution by people trying to protect their cattle and domestic animals. Jaguars once roamed throughout the forests of Nicaragua’s Pacific Coast; however, due to deforestation, the only...

Lessons from Canada: Community Involvement in Coastal Restoration

The climate and ecology of Canada's Maritimes and coastal Nicaragua are very different, but just like in New Brunswick, Nicaragua's "coastal areas support economic, cultural, and recreational activities, as well as a diversity of flora and fauna." For these reasons, and more, the findings in this paper from CAKE (Climate Adaptation Knowledge Exchange) are relevant to us: Examining Community Adaptive Capacity to Address Climate Change, Sea Level Rise, and Salt...

He Really Bought A Zoo

The Telegraph interviews the man behind the movie: 'There were lots of times when I thought, “What have I done?”’ Mee says now. 'But when the jaguar escaped it was the first time I realised there were lives at stake.’

Ground-truthing the Nicaraguan Jaguar

Panthera’s February Newsletter is out, with some exciting news for them. They’re reporting the first Panthera camera trap photo of a jaguar taken in Nicaragua. You can see their photo here. Ground-truthing is providing verification of the existence of a species whose populations have not been carefully observed and studied. Camera traps are extremely helpful to conservation science. After decades of decline and without a documented sighting for over 15...

Iniciativa Carey del Pacífico Oriental (ICAPO)

Until recently, the hawksbill sea turtle was thought to be extinct in the eastern Pacific, but thanks to discoveries made by the Iniciativa Carey del Pacífico Oriental (ICAPO), we know now that, with concentrated conservation efforts, it's not too late to bring the Hawskbill Sea Turtle back from the brink of extinction. This great comic is designed to remind people of just that: Juntos podemos traer de vuelta a la...

Meet Miguel Ordenana!

Miguel Ordeñana, the wildlife biologist leading our jaguar conservation efforts, has begun blogging at Urban Carnivores, where he'll be reporting on big cats in LA's Griffith Park, and in the Paso del Istmo. Be sure to tune in as he discusses wildlife corridors, big cats and their prey, camera traps, and more.

NGO PRETOMA in the New York Times

Our friends at the Costa Rican NGO PRETOMA got a mention in today's NYTimes Green blog piece on illegal fishing. PRETOMA is focused on marine conservation and research. They have been instrumental in helping us with our sustainable fisheries program.

Mother Jaguar and Cubs

Mongabay.com's Picture of the Day is from Bolivia. This jaguar mother was photographed with her two cubs in the Kaa Iya National Park in Bolivia. "Kaaiyana’s tolerance of observers is a testimony to the absence of hunters in this area, and her success as a mother means there is plenty of food for her and her cubs to eat," said John Polisar, coordinator of Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) Jaguar Conservation...

December Newsletter Online

Conservation in ACTION Launched earlier this year, the Proyecto Tesoros de Nicaragua ( Proyecto TESÓN), a joint effort to clean up the San Juan River catchment, has already demonstrated how public-private partnerships can work to build a more pristine and sustainable Nicaragua. There are now three Ambassadors of the Environment working around the clock to clean up garbage near the estuary and along the beach, and to monitor the volume...

Big Cat Sounds

AKA why we love the Guardian's GrrlScientist: “Big cat” is not a precise biological term, it is just a verbal shorthand for distinguishing the larger members of the taxonomic family Felidae from smaller ones. Some people formally define “big cats” as the four Panthera species: the tiger, lion, jaguar, and leopard. But other people also include cheetahs, snow leopards, clouded leopards, and cougars under the “big cat” umbrella. Big cat...

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