Jaguars are magnificent cats and it would be criminal and tragic if they’re hunted to extinction. From Maria Kay Fotopoulos at mkfotopoulos.substack.com:
Converging and growing criminal operations in human and drug trafficking, money laundering, and wildlife trade – legal and illegal – add more pressure to animal species already under threat of extirpation in Central and South America, according to new research from the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy in Florida.
Incredibly rich in biodiversity, Central and South America are home to 17 percent of Earth’s wildlife, as well as crime and violence – Latin America has more than 40 of the 50 most dangerous cities in the world. The combination makes the region ripe for environmental exploitation.
In “Triads, Snakeheads, and Flying Money: The Underworld of Chinese Criminal Networks in Latin America and the Caribbean,” the authors of the research, Leland Lazarus and Alexander Gocso, write: “China is, by far, the largest market for illegal wildlife products.” Lazarus and Gocso describe several Chinese criminal groups that were infiltrated by an NGO, ELI, to obtain information and evidence in order to disrupt illicit activities in the wildlife trade in Latin America.
Among the criminal operators are the M2 Network (Mexico-2) which operates in the United States, Mexico and China, with a base in Baja California; M3, located in Central Mexico and run by Cantonese Chinese nationals; Bolivian-based SA4 (South America-4); SA1 in Suriname, with Brazilian, Guyanese and French Guianan operatives, and SA8 operating in many countries. All are names most Americans likely have never heard of. These bad actors traffic in a variety of off-limits sea creatures, including abalone, sea cucumber, seahorses, sharks and totoaba. The criminal organizations operating in Latin America also traffic in jaguars for their body parts. Weighing in between 220 and 350 pounds, the jaguar (Panthera onca) is one of the world’s five big cats, an apex predator who plays a major role in keeping ecosystems in check.
