In our street we have a neighbourhood watch scheme. Some of the residents have got together and paid a security firm to put up cameras.
It's not before time. The other evening I was sat out on my veranda. Suddenly I heard the scream of tyres and a car turned into our street in hot spursuit. They got to the top of the street and gun shots were exchanged. A discussion erupted on the text messaging group that is the hiub of our neighbourhood scheme. It seems there were four thieves. Three of them got arrested. One escaped.
I had some sad news this week. Jorge, a friend of mind from Rondonopolis, saw one of his Aplomado Falcons die this week. It ate a giant centipede. Or the head of one. Then started to salivate and died.
The best way to prevent this is to build a weathering.
And finally. On social media this week something was posted about the merits or otherwise of feeding wild Jaguars. People were arguing about how it can lead to conditioning, to the detriment of the jaguar population. As a Conservation Biologist I shall add my opinion, via this, my platform. Firstly, much feeding, if it happens at all, appears to be occasional. Contrast this with the Red Kite feeding that goes on in Wales. There are no commercial 'Jaguar feeding stations' in Mato Grosso that I am aware off. Ecotourists don't shoot jaguars, and that leaves the argument of whether or not jaguars may lose their fear of people and approach human dwellings or livestock. Seasonal hunger drives jaguars to search for food and come out in the open in Mato Grosso, and that is in August.
And the benefits for jaguar conservation awareness-raising through the experience of seeing a wild jaguar does, in my opnion, far outweigh the (so far non-invasive) effects of jaguar tourism.
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| I saw my first wild jaguar in August last year, and it certainly made an impression on me. |
That's all for now.
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