A study revealed residents near national parks in Panama, Central America, were causing problems to the jaguar population there. With the residents living near two major national parks in Panama supporting road building in the parks and developmental activities, the population of the big cat continues to deteriorate.

Though these parks are taking huge efforts to conserve the population of the majestic feline, which is the largest big cat in the Americas, their numbers continue to decline.

Now the population of these animals are close to threatening numbers and efforts to conserve them are in full swing. The major hurdle to these efforts are the human settlements near national parks. The people's demand for modern amenities in forest land will only destabilize wildlife.

There are two national parks in the area – the Cerro Hoya National Park, which is an isolated tropical forest remnant (325 square kilometers, 125 square miles) on Panama’s Pacific coast and the Darién National Park, which is Panama’s biggest national park, measuring 2,235 square miles in area. They are located in the area between Panama and Colombia, in the isthmus linking the two continents.

Ricardo Moreno, a Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) research associate, recommended further education to emphasize the connection between healthy ecosystems and jaguar survival in a Smitsonian press release.

“According to our study, there is more human-jaguar conflict in Darién National Park, probably because communities are near larger tracts of unbroken forest, which is much better jaguar habitat,” Moreno said. “Ironically, the respondents’ ideas about roads into the parks are likely to increase this conflict and make effective park management significantly more challenging.”

The team, including researchers from Southern Illinois University with Moreno and Ninon Meyer from Fundación Yaguará Panama and the Sociedad Panameña de Biología, surveyed 85 residents of 23 rural communities around Cerro Hoya National Park and 54 residents of five communities around Darién National Park. They interviewed one adult over 18 years of age per household, focusing on residents such as landowners and cattle ranchers, who were most likely to be affected by jaguars.

According to this survey, the team found the major reason for clashes between man and beast is livestock predation by these big cats. The animals develop a taste for this easy prey over time and it increases the chances of encounters, which lead to both sides losing individuals, leading to the jaguar’s numbers being in threat.

Ninety six percent of the estimated 230 jaguar deaths between 1989 and 2014 were attributed to killing by humans after livestock death.

Six respondents in Darién reported 33 predation events involving cattle, whereas only one reported a predation event in Cerro Hoya.

Road building in the secluded and protected forest areas to link farm land and livestock grazing land is another well-known cause of the jaguar’s natural habitat reducing and also a higher number of encounters. Earlier this year, STRI research associate William Laurance published a paper in Science, stressing the importance of considering wildlife conservation during transportation infrastructure planning, because it is known in the conservation community roads “can unleash a Pandora’s box of environmental ills, such as land encroachment, wildlife poaching, forest fragmentation, exotic species invasions and illegal mining.”

The STRI, headquartered in Panama City, Panama, is a part of the Smithsonian Institution. The institute furthers the understanding of tropical nature and its importance to human welfare, trains students to conduct research in the tropics and promotes conservation.

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