French Guiana's vast forested interior supports one of the Amazon's best-protected wildlife communities. The Guiana Amazonian Park — at 3.4 million hectares, one of the world's largest national parks — provides exceptional protection for jaguars, tapirs, giant anteaters, giant otters, harpy eagles, and extraordinary biodiversity. Wildlife welfare in French Guiana's forests is primarily threatened by illegal gold mining (garimpagem) which degrades watersheds and brings hunting pressure into remote areas.
Awala-Yalimapo on the northwest coast hosts one of the world's largest leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) nesting colonies — an extraordinary wildlife welfare concentration. Up to 5,000 leatherback females nest annually, creating the largest leatherback nesting aggregation in the Atlantic. The Association Kwata and ONCFS monitor and protect nesting turtles.
Community-based conservation involving the Galibi-Kali'na indigenous community has been central to turtle protection at Awala-Yalimapo. Former turtle hunters became protection guardians. This model demonstrates how welfare and conservation can align with indigenous community economic interests through ecotourism.
French law applies throughout French Guiana including wildlife protection provisions. However, enforcing welfare standards in remote Amazonian forest — accessible only by boat or air — is practically very limited. ONCFS rangers patrol protected areas, primarily focusing on illegal hunting and gold mining. Illegal hunting (gibier) is practiced in some indigenous communities under traditional use frameworks.
Illegal artisanal gold mining (garimpagem) — primarily by Brazilian miners — is the primary threat to wildlife welfare in French Guiana's forests. Mercury contamination poisons river food chains affecting fish, river dolphins, and their predators including harpy eagles and indigenous human communities. Habitat destruction around mining sites displaces and kills wildlife. French military and police operations against illegal mining have had limited sustained effectiveness.
French Guiana's coastal waters support diverse marine life including sea turtles, Atlantic spotted dolphins, and productive fish populations. The mixing of Amazon River freshwater with ocean creates highly productive coastal ecosystems. Marine mammal welfare includes occasional dolphin bycatch in artisanal fisheries.