A South Coast-based wildlife conservation group is expanding its program to save the dwindling jaguar population in Central America.
Jaguars are classified as “near threatened” as their numbers are shrinking. That’s why nonprofit Paso Pacifico, based in Ventura, has a program to monitor and protect jaguars in Nicaragua.
The organization has received funding from the Los Angeles Zoo to purchase 14 additional camera traps. Miguel Ordenana – a wildlife biologist with Paso Pacifico – says these motion-activated cameras not only document the presence of jaguars but also help restore their numbers.
“To analyze where there are choke points within that corridor where animals are not able to cross, so that resources can be invested in these choke points to improve connectivity along this corridor so they can make it to those patches of habitat," he says.
Ordenana says the nonprofit works with local farmers and ranchers to show that jaguars are not a threat.