Asunción, Paraguay, May 19, 2025 – A new scientific study identifies effective and cost efficient methods to reduce conflicts between ranchers and jaguars, including LED lights, electric fencing, donkey guards, cowbells, strategic provision of water sources, and hunting bans.

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in Paraguay has been one of the key collaborating organizations in the large-scale scientific study entitled “Sixty Degrees of Solutions: Field Techniques for Human-Jaguar Coexistence,” recently published in the journal Animals.

The strategies listed in the study were adapted to local conditions and showed strong results: for example, on the Campo Grande ranch, the combination of six methods produced a 100% reduction in losses of cattle to jaguars. This is important to prevent retaliatory killings of jaguars by ranchers.

More recently, the inclusion of donkeys as guard animals achieved a 79% reduction in losses at the same ranch.

The article, led by Dr. John Polisar and co-authors from 11 countries, concludes that anti-predator strategies applied across the continent are highly effective and, in most cases, economically cost-effective.

The authors of the research analyzed experiences at 248 cattle ranches from Mexico to Argentina and provided a detailed assessment of the strategies implemented to mitigate livestock predation by jaguars (Panthera onca), one of the main causes of human-wildlife conflict in Latin America.

The participation of WCS Paraguay, represented by Laura Villalba and Frederick Bauer, focused on the Chaco ecoregion, in the north of the country, characterized by its dry forests and pasture areas in transition with the Bolivian Chiquitanía and the Pantanal basin. They evaluated 9 cattle ranches, ranging in size from 4,000 to 45,600 hectares and surrounded by rich biodiversity. In some cases, the ranches housed up to 18,000 head of cattle.

In addition to contributing valuable data, WCS Paraguay has strengthened its work with rural producers, promoting practical, participatory and sustainable solutions within the framework of the Jaguar Roadmap 2030, an international initiative endorsed by CITES and CMS.

Said Maria del Carmen Fleytas, Country Director for WCS in Paraguay: “WCS reaffirms its commitment to the conservation of this apex predator and the search for a lasting balance between livestock production and biodiversity. The study calls on governments, producer associations and international organizations to broaden the application of these tools, facilitate their dissemination, and strengthen institutional mechanisms for their implementation.”

The study notes: “The jaguar has been eliminated from 77 percent of its historical range (or more) in Mesoamerica. The jaguar is currently classified as “Near Threatened” by the IUCN Red List and listed on Appendix I of CITES (www.cites.org). But in the near future, the species could qualify as “Vulnerable,” that is, it would be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild, as it is already in El Salvador and Uruguay. The main threats to jaguar populations are habitat loss, reduced availability of natural prey, and direct killing, often due to conflicts with livestock. Another factor contributing to direct fatalities is the trade of body parts, which varies in scale and characteristics across the species’ range.”

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