Feline Photo Project
When a rural landowner participating in NJP and Naturalia’s joint Feline Photo Project produces a photograph of a living jaguar on his ranch, he’ll be paid $500. Since the same jaguar could be photographed numerous times, its overall cash value could be much greater than the $500 bounty offered locally for dead jaguars. An ocelot photo will garner $150, $100 for a mountain lion, and the smallest reward of the bunch, a picture of a bobcat will result in a $50 payment. This innovative program awards ranchers for the presence of living wildlife, particularly large carnivores.
With the assistance of NJP board member Carlos López González, whose research constitutes the largest body of scientific data on northern jaguars, and with a field technician devoted to the project, we are placing motion-triggered cameras in known wildlife corridors on participating ranches. Ranchers receive monetary prizes for wildlife photos; vaqueros receive training in camera maintenance; and researchers gain valuable data concerning the numbers and movements of wildlife species.
So far, nine ranch owners near the Northern Jaguar Reserve – with land encompassing a total of 41,000 acres – have joined the project and signed agreements that prohibit them from killing any predators. A condition of participation allows for unannounced visits from conservationists to ensure compliance. A tenth ranch was removed from the project after it was found poisoning mountain lions.
The Feline Photo Project succeeds at addressing our highest priorities: to immediately reduce jaguar mortality, to develop trusting relationships and encourage a conservation ethic among rural landowners, and to gain better scientific understanding of the jaguar population. The photo project is designed to obtain information about population size, spatial distribution, habitat needs, and abundance of jaguars and other wildlife.
Established as a two-year pilot program, the Feline Photo Project compensated ranchers for a total of 38 photographs in its first year. A community celebration was held during Spring 2008 where Sahuaripa-area school children voted on the three best pictures for additional awards and prizes. When a proud ranch owner was asked what he was going to do with the reward for 10 ocelot photos, he laughingly replied: “Buy more of those cats – they’re worth more than cows.”
The Feline Photo Project is the best way we can envision to build local tolerance for jaguars and ultimately create a self-policing environment. With the pilot project concluded in late June 2009, we are now determining how to best move forward based on the health of the jaguar population and the project’s success in changing local perceptions of the jaguar from a liability to an asset. Our long-term hope is to work with ranchers living in jaguar country to shape the Feline Photo Project so that it is eventually community owned and managed.
More updates soon!
