The Amazon is being deforested at an astonishing pace. As corporations seek to plunder the region’s natural resources, every minute an area the size of three football pitches is being cleared. This has huge implications not just for the jaguar but for the world’s biodiversity in general. Nevertheless, it is critical that the jaguar has access to rainforest otherwise it will not survive. You can help WWF conserve the species natural habitat by adopting a jaguar and hopefully ensuring they are around for many more generations to come.

Jaguars and humans come into conflict because they both hunt the same prey. This means that humans consider the jaguar as competition for food. Jaguars sometimes kill cattle and this means ranchers see them as pests and kill them in retaliation. By adopting a jaguar, you will be funding WWF’s efforts to educate local communities about how important the species is to the ecosystem. This should reduce human-jaguar conflict and prevent retaliatory killings as well.

Unfortunately for the jaguar, its body parts are prized in Eastern medicine, which makes use of its paws, teeth and other parts to treat diseases. This is a real tragedy because such treatments are little more than a myth that results in the killing of a beautiful big cat. By adopting a jaguar, you will be helping WWF in its effort to stop the poaching of an animal which is wholly unnecessary.

Another consequence of deforestation is that jaguars become increasingly isolated and their population fragments. This has implications for breeding and makes them vulnerable to other types of threats. By adopting a jaguar, you will be funding WWF’s efforts to establish habitat corridors for wildlife and train local communities to monitor this iconic species so that the population remains stable or even manages to grow.