A new “undercover documentary investigates the trafficking of Latin America’s big cat to meet demand in China.”
”jaguar fangs sent by Chinese citizens to addresses in China” are “contributing to a decline in the population of Latin America’s iconic big cat. There are between 64,000 and 170,000 jaguars left in the world, a fraction of their previous population number, earning them a place on the IUCN’s red list as near threatened. Habitat loss, human-wildlife conflict and local pet and skin markets, as well as trafficking, have all contributed to the drop in numbers.”
The movie, “Tigre Gente… show a Bolivian park ranger and a young Hong Kong journalist who goes undercover to investigate the trade in jaguar fangs.” It “premieres at the Tribeca film festival this month.”
“One of the stars of the film is Marcos Uzquiano, director of Madidi national park, who leads a team of rangers on the hunt for poachers who kill jaguars for their teeth and pelts to sell for a few hundred dollars on the hidden market. Uzquiano, born and raised around the park, which has one of the continent’s healthiest jaguar populations, shares Unger’s awe and respect for the big cat. He calls it a “symbol of life and strength”, which holds a mythical status for the local people.”
“On the other side of the world in east Asia, the body parts of big cats have historically been used in traditional Chinese medicine. Today, jaguars and their body parts are still being trafficked in dangerously high numbers.”
“A study of jaguar trafficking between 2012 and 2018 published in the journal Conservation Biology last year found that “jaguar seizures increased over time, and most of the seized jaguar pieces were canines”. About 34% of the jaguar-part seizure reports were linked with China.”
In a subsequent Salon interview, we learn that “Chinese demand does not stem from wanting to kill wildlife for the sake of destroying and consuming it. It really comes from a place of respect and appreciation for these animals, that by consuming or using a product from their body, they are honoring this animal. The issue, however, is the amount of misinformation on the demand side regarding how these wildlife products are sourced. Some Chinese people believe, as you saw in the film, that these animals die naturally and their parts are harvested as not to let them go to waste. Some are simply uninformed and honestly don't think to ask these types of questions.”
You can learn more in the original Guardian article and a separate interview for Salon. The film is available to stream on demand through June 23 here.