Jaguar Killer Still on Loose; Minister Says Trafficking Being Considered

The public outcry on two beheaded jaguars was sounded across the city and a ten thousand dollar reward was set up to catch the poachers. But so far, there hasn’t been much luck in identifying who was the perpetrator. Minister Omar Figueroa says that while they haven’t identified the person responsible for killing the protected cat, he believes that the response may have called off the poachers from subsequent attacks on the jaguars. He says they went as far as to get assistance from Interpol which resulted in a few leads.

Omar Figueroa

Dr. Omar Figueroa, Minister of Forestry

“For the most part, the country was alarmed and outraged when you see an iconic species like the Jaguar not only being killed but being decapitated. In my mind, when I saw those pictures, I was immediately concerned because I thought that perhaps there was an element here that was involved in trafficking of jaguar parts. I think that if at some point, the black market, the trafficking, manages to put a price tag on an individual jaguar that can be an important threat to the wild jaguar population. I saw it important for us to take immediate and decisive action and that is what we did. We got some good leads that actually took us out of the country where we managed to bring in Interpol to help us track some suspects. The investigation is still ongoing. We don’t really have some good, good leads right now but I think that if trafficking was involved those that actually were part of it know that we were hot on their tails and I think they would think twice about repeating such an incident. Clearly, I think the government and the people of this country will not allow such an iconic species to be just recklessly persecuted in that manner.”