Marcos Uzquiano (head of protection at Madidi National Park) is featured in a recent Forbes article about poaching of jaguars.
“According to the IUCN, there are between 130,000 and 208,000 jaguars left in the wild, with 2,000-3,000 of those in Bolivia…It was in 2014, as chief of Zone B of Madidi National Park that Uzquiano first heard rumors of the trafficking of fangs and other parts of the jaguar…” He then started a “a monitoring and research program to learn more about this new threat to the jaguar, to find out if it was true or not, who was trafficking parts of the jaguar and why.” Their efforts resulted in location and capture of a Chinese citizen who was buying jaguar fangs in Bolivia to sell in China. A documentary, Tigre Gente, shows footage of the investigation and capture.
Marcos is quoted in the article as stating: "Bolivia was the first and perhaps only country in the region so far to have developed policies public, plans and specific strategies for the conservation of the jaguar and the head-on fight against wildlife trafficking.”
“Uzquiano says it is important that the scientists in Bolivia play a key role in finding conservation solutions.
"They have a greater roots, belonging, and extensive knowledge of natural values and cultural, biodiversity and cosmovision (way of looking at the world)," he says, adding that other countries can also actively participate in the development of specific case studies, programs and strategies aimed at finding solutions to the problem at hand.”