Can ranchers co-exist with jaguars?

Jaguar once roamed from the United States to Argentina, but today they've been eliminated from several range countries, including the United States. The chief reasons are habitat loss and direct killing by humans, putting ranchers and farmers at the heart of the issue. Both ranchers and farmers convert key jaguar habitat and kill the big cats as a threat to their livestock. However in parts of Brazil's Pantanal, some ranchers are going about their business without killing jaguars. My Pantanal, a film by Andrea Heydlauff, Vice President of the wild cat conservation group Panthera, takes a look at one particular ranch that is helping prove that jaguars and ranchers can co-exist. My Pantanal will be shown on Jaunary 31st at the 3rd Annual New York Wildlife Conservation Film Festival. Ahead of the screening, Heydlauff answered some questions from Mongabay.com about the film and her conservation work...more