Courtesy of Panthera Costa Rica
In Bagaces, a one-year old female jaguar was hit on the highway between Cañas and Liberia.
The Fauna passageway is located more than a kilometer from the place, which had already been identified as an important place of connectivity where jaguars and other animals may try to cross between the two protected areas: Rincón de la Vieja National Park and Lomas Barbudal Biological Reserve. However, no passageway was built in the location.
Months earlier, the installation of a grid to guide the animals into the tunnels had been recommended, as well as the placement of traffic signs to warn about crossing wildlife, so that the drivers were alert to avoid accidents.
Eight fauna passageways and several tunnels of various sizes and shapes were built below this new, 50.5-kilometers road. However, the efforts seem insufficient.
Esther Pomareda, a biologist from Panthera organization in Costa Rica, explained that jaguars and pumas require large tracts of territory to move, hunt and reproduce.
It is fundamental for the genetic integrity of these species that young specimens can move among other populations. We must reduce the impact of barriers such as roads and highways,”
added the biologist.
The organization placed four camera traps to monitor the presence of felines and other species in the location, where an adult jaguar that could be the mother of the diseased cub was already recorded.
Panthera Costa Rica works for the conservation of wild cats and supports the consolidation of the Jaguar Corridor Initiative.