Veterinarian Pollyanna Motinha applies bandages to Itapira, a jaguar with burned paws. Although the cat is on the mend, its habitat in Brazil’s Pantanal, a biodiversity sanctuary, continues to burn.
Fires are raging in Brazil due to a historic drought that experts link to climate change. Clouds of smoke are blanketing nearly two-thirds of the country, including some major cities like Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
Many homes are located in key natural areas for biodiversity such as the Amazon, the Cerrado and the Pantanal, the largest wetland on the planet, in the south of the Amazon, classified by UNESCO as a natural heritage site.
The region has recorded 1,452 fires since the beginning of the month, almost four times more than in the whole of September last year, according to the National Institute for Space Research (INPE).
“Today we see animals at the top of the food chain, like jaguars, suffering from the fires. This is not something that happened frequently in the past,” Motinha told AFP.
The largest feline in the Americas, the jaguar (Panthera onça) is considered near-threatened with extinction. It is estimated that there are fewer than 2,000 specimens in the Pantanal.
Itapira was saved from the fires thanks to Nex NoExtinction, an animal shelter located not far from the capital Brasilia (central Brazil). The female was found hiding in a pipe more than 1,200 kilometers away, near Miranda, an area affected by the fires in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul (central-west).
– “Probably not alive anymore” –
Together with her husband, also a veterinarian, Thiago Luczinski, Mrs. Motinha and a few students clean the wounds and monitor the health of the two-year-old, 57-kilo animal. After a month of almost daily care, his paws seem to be doing better.
“If she had not been brought here, if she had been left in the wild, she would probably no longer be alive or would be in a rather deplorable state,” says Thiago Luczinski, who is nevertheless worried about her future. “This animal is safe today, but it will return to a region where there are still fires.”
In addition to Itapira, two other jaguars will soon be ready to return to the wild after being cared for at the shelter, which has welcomed more than 70 felines, jaguars and pumas, in 24 years.
Among the 25 felines currently being cared for: a female jaguar burned during a series of fires in 2020 in the Pantanal and named Amanaci by her keepers.
“Amanaci’s case is sad because she was unable to return to the Pantanal. Her paws were so badly burned that she lost the tendons that move her claws,” laments Silvano Gianni, co-founder of the shelter with his wife.
But the animal had two cubs in captivity. When it is ready, the youngest will be sent to its mother’s place of origin.
In Brazil, animal shelters like NEX are largely privately run and struggle to secure funding. Resources are insufficient to care for the number of injured animals, Motinha said.
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