Sustentare Inc

Fires in Pantanal
 
Dear friends,
It is with a heavy heart that I ask for your help.
We have suffered a tremendous blow to our Projects here in the Pantanal. For 5 days straight we have been fighting a fire of huge proportions.



It started burning on Sep 10th and it quickly consumed a big part of the reserve here at Caiman Ecological Refuge. Unfortunately as I write this  message  the fire is still not completely out.

Out of the 53,000 hectare reserve, the fire has already consumed over 35,000 hectares and has caused huge damage to people, animals, plants and some infrastructure.

It comes at one of the busiest time of the year for our ecotourism operations and it has caused a big disruption to all.

As far as the Jaguars we monitor are concerned, we have already accounted for those that are wearing GPS collars and fortunately they are alive and well.
Nusa, one of the first Jaguars to have been born at Caiman Ecological Refuge at the start of Onçafari  years ago,  has been seen and despite looking a bit frightened is as beautiful as ever.



Our Jaguar Rewilding enclosures have been burned. Thanks to a herculean effort from our team we managed to remove Jatobazinho, a male Jaguar that was inside the enclosure going through the rewinding process, and airlift him to a safe location minutes before the fire hit.





Being a not for profit organization we count on you guys to support our rebuilding efforts.

We need to rebuilt the enclosures and look at ways of helping Caiman flourish again. That will involve reconstructing dams, ponds and other water sources that Jaguars and all animals rely on.



We surely have a long road to go until things are back to normal, but we surely will recover and come back stronger, as will the fauna and flora of this paradise we all call home.
 
Any help is very much appreciated.
 
Thanks in advance for your contribution to this cause that means so much to me, and all at Caiman.

Mario
Co-Founder of Associação Onçafari
 
How the Funds will be spent:
Enclosures Rebuilt: US$15,000
Initial  Restoration Projects: US$20,000
Reconstruction of dams, ponds and other water sources:US$10,000
Scientific Research regarding Pantanal's rebuilding capacity: US$5,000


More information about Sustentare Inc, the non profit arm of Onçafari in the US:  Onçafari was set up to promote environmental conservation and contribute to socio-economic development in the regions in which it is active, through ecotourism and scientific research. 

In the Pantanal, Onçafari works to guarantee that Jaguars live completely free, giving both Brazilian and international guests the opportunity of seeing one of the most beautiful wild animals in the world in its natural habitat. All funds raised in this campaign will be used for the restoration efforts at Caiman Ecological Refuge.

SAVING JAGUARS 

Our aim is to replicate the successful Jaguar reintroduction process done by our team in the Pantanal back in June 2016, this time in the Amazon rainforest.

That was the only time in history when Jaguar cubs where successfully reintroduced into the wild. The project was extensively documented by various medias including the BBC, NatGeo Wild as well as various newspapers, websites and magazines.

We aim to prove that the technique developed by Onçafari and Cenap/ICMBio can be replicated in other ecosystems.

If we are also successful in this attempt in the Amazon this technique could be applied to save Jaguars elsewhere in Brazil, like the Atlantic Forest for example, where Jaguars are bordering extinction.

It could also potentially be applied in other countries and even with other big cats of the Panthera genus.

Our team is taking care of two orphan female Jaguars that have been found near the area where we plan to reintroduce them. They were less than two month old when they where found and would surely have not survived if we had not rescued them. It is unclear what happened to their mother but it is very likely she has been illegally hunted.


We are in the early stages of building a 110,000 square feet enclosure in the Amazon where the two sisters will go through the same process that was proven successful in the Pantanal. For about a year we will teach them how to hunt and how to become wild again, to the point where they can be released back into the wild.

We need your help to be able to finish the construction of the enclosure.


This project means a lot to all involved and it will be a huge step towards the conservation of the species. We are hoping to save the lives of these two Jaguars and give back their freedom.

We are counting on you to help us finish the construction as soon as possible so that we can start the "training" process.

Thank you for joining this campaign, for sharing it with others, for your contribution and for giving Jaguars a brighter future.