Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary, an 98,842-acre (400 km²) preserve in south-central Belize is the first – and, so far, only – national reserve anywhere to be established for the protection of jaguars (Panthera onca).  Managed by the Belize Audubon Society, CBWS records 96 species of mammals and 250 species of birds and has hiking trails and lodging available for visitors.

However, the sanctuary’s size and remote location have always presented challenges to managing its installations and protecting the wildlife within its boundaries.  After a lapse of more than five years without field rangers at its Juan Branch Outpost, the AZA Jaguar Species Survival Plan^® launched its first program-wide conservation initiative by entering into an agreement with Belize Audubon Society to fund the hiring of two rangers from local communities to patrol and maintain a large and isolated portion of Cockscomb.   We are proud to say that Jaguar SSP^® – and now SAFE Jaguar – participants, led by charter supporters including El Paso Zoo, have literally had boots on the ground protecting jaguars and jaguar habitat since 2019!

From anecdotal evidence, we know that the outpost itself was used as a base for poaching during that earlier interim period; but today Rangers Leonardo Chiac and Selvin Bol patrol, maintain trails and outpost buildings, monitor wildlife populations, and investigate human activity where it might not belong.

Although classified as an endangered species by the United States and listed as Near Threatened on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Endangered Species^®, the jaguar is remarkably resilient and can be found in a range of habitats and ecosystems from the southwestern United States to Paraguay.  Habitat loss and fragmentation along with persecution by humans have reduced that range by more than one-third over the past two centuries, however, and the trend continues.  As the top predator in its ecosystem, the presence (or absence) of jaguars is a strong indicator of the system’s overall health.  Over the past 25 years, with the advent of automatic field cameras, a clearer picture of jaguar population presence and density has emerged.  Although known to be increasingly fragmented and under pressure, thriving jaguar populations have also been revealed in areas in which they were suspected to be long gone.

Areas of the Yucatán Peninsula and southward along the Caribbean coast of Central America are some of the places where jaguars are doing better than expected.  Cockscomb Basin is included in that region, and it is a key reason that the late Dr. Alan Rabinowitz worked so hard for the establishment of the Sanctuary:   it is just as important to protect the strongholds of wildlife as to reverse the decline of wilderness elsewhere.  It bears repeating that protecting habitat for apex predators also protects all the other species in that community.

The organization Panthera is Belize Audubon’s foremost jaguar conservation partner at CBWS, having continuously conducted monitoring and research there for well over a decade.  The collaboration between those two organizations is the realization of Dr. Rabinowitz’s dream to save jaguars in Belize.

To enable going about the business of keeping the dream alive, this year the rangers’ goals include upgrading facilities to include enclosed staff sleeping quarters and construction of a rainwater collection system, road repairs and procurement of tools and equipment.  As of July, nearly all of them were achieved through their hard work and the resources supplied by SAFE Jaguar.

It is a point of pride for Jaguar SSP/SAFE to be the catalyst that helps guarantee that high-profile successes can happen.

Photo Credits

Cover and top – Travel Local, Wikimedia Creative Commons
Bottom – Bernard DUPONT, Wikimedia Creative Commons