Jaguar Grandfather
"Táájdeeú túráácágí" / "Abuelo Jaguar"
This film highlights the BORA Jaguar School project, which aimed to reduce wild cat trafficking through an educational approach, increasing knowledge and changing negative perceptions towards felids among children from the Bora indigenous community of the Peruvian Amazon. Currently, the Boras make a living from tourism in the area by performing their native dances and selling handicrafts to tourists who visit their malocas (huts). Many of these handicrafts include felid parts like skin pieces, fangs, claws and skulls. Thus, the BORA Jaguar School project served as an initial engagement with the community focused on changing harmful perceptions of felids and stop the use of jaguar parts. #IndigenousPeoplesDay
Panthera supported partners on this project, including on a “training program for young indigenous leaders". We selected leaders from three Peruvian indigenous peoples: Bora, Achuar and Shipibo-Konibo. With the collaboration of the documentary filmmaker Daniel Martínez-Quintanilla, Panthera carried out a community cinema workshop where these youth would decide what story to tell involving the topics learned during their training as indigenous leaders in the conservation of wild cats. Together, they directed the short film "Táájdeeú túráácágí/Abuelo Jaguar".
We also supported the local authority GERFOR in a rescue operation to transport the jaguar showed on the video, victim of the illegal trade, to a rescue center.
Special thanks to Maribel Garcia and her family, Gimena Cariajano, Soi Bari, Daniel Martinez-Quintanilla and Priscila Peralta-Aguilar for their involvement in the creation, direction and filming of Abuelo Jaguar.