The jaguar (Panthera onca) is the largest cat in the Americas. Brazil's Amazon holds the greatest concentration of jaguars, but deforestation and conflict threaten their welfare and survival.
Wild jaguars face welfare challenges across their Brazilian range. In the Amazon, logging and agricultural expansion fragments habitat, forcing jaguars into smaller territories with reduced prey availability. Jaguars that prey on livestock are frequently killed by ranchers, often by poisoning — a prolonged and painful death. In the Pantanal, jaguars have fared better, with eco-tourism creating economic value that supports tolerance. The catastrophic 2020 Pantanal fires, which burned over 30% of the biome, caused acute welfare emergencies for individual jaguars — burned paws, respiratory distress, and prey depletion. Conservation programs combining GPS telemetry, community education, livestock protection measures, and corridor restoration address both population viability and individual welfare outcomes.