Ocelot Working Group

in partnership with Okapia & Cámara Salvaje

Project leaders: Paulina Plata, Marco Landaverde, Miguel Torres

👉The objective is to reduce the exposure of small wild cats to zoonosis risks from free ranged dogs by implementing vaccination and sterilisation campaigns.

👉Engage with the community to implement sensibilisation and outreach strategies to mainstream small cats, as well as to understand the local perception of small cats and detect if conflict is happening. 

🚨Presence of dogs in areas with small wild cats (margays and bobcats)

🚨Illegal hunting

💉Vaccinations: On march 2023, the team applied 50 vaccinations against distemper to the local dogs of the area. The goal is to vaccinate at least 150 dogs by the end of 2023.

🐶Sterilisation campaigns: The team expects to vaccinate at least 80 dogs and cats in the community by the end of 2023.

🕵️Baseline surveys in the local community: The team expects to execute at least 150 surveys by the end of 2023.

🤝🏿Community workshops: The aim is to implement an environmental education & conservation workshop every month.

👁Monitoring: Through trap cameras and field work, the team is working on establishing a listo of wild mammals that are distributed in the area.

Project leader: Víctor Rosas

This project aims to prevent and reduce retaliatory hunting of ocelots, jaguarundis and margays.

🚨Poaching

🚨Reprisals for predation

🚨Backyard animals

🛠Rebuilding chicken coops

One important part of the project is the reinforcement of chicken coops to prevent backyard birds from being preyed on by wild cats during the night. With the donations received, Víctor has been able to install two new chicken pens and aims to build two more before April 2023.

In the building and repairing process, Víctor involves the locals and invites tourists to volunteer on these activities.

🤝🏿Community workshops

Víctor has also organised the facilitation of education workshops (sponsored by SWCCF) for young people in local schools and the community, where they also learn how to identify and monitor turtle nests with the purpose of preventing illegal egg stealing and raiding.

The case of Víctor is exemplary because regardless that he is not a biologist or has any “ academic degree”, he has successfully incorporated the locals in the conservation and facilitated the interest of others to take care of our native wildlife. A true conservationist!

Before Víctor received his first donation from The Ocelot Working Group, he met "Mia," the margay. Mia was captured by the locals while trying to steal some chicken from the local village. The community decided to keep her out of the wild and kept her in a chicken pen (and used to feed her chickens... ironically😅).

When Víctor found out about this case, he was able to raise some funds to start a rehabilitation process for her release.

A few weeks later, Víctor could reintroduce Mia and she jumped her way to freedom!

We truly hope this release was successful.

Project leaders: Thelma Arenas and Carlos Delgado

Climate change causes severe droughts in Calakmul, drying out native wetlands and forcing small wild cats to seek water in nearby communities, which is a major driver for human-wildlife conflicts with bee farmers.

The objective of this project is to install artificial water fountains, since they can help mitigate the adverse effects of droughts and facilitate coexistence between wildlife and communities.

🚨Climate change and droughts

🚨Hunting for retaliation

🕵️Applying surveys to evaluate the conflict and perception of wild cats with the community.

During the second week of January 2023, Carlos and Thelma held a presentation with the beneficiary families to introduce the project, as well as its goals and activities. This was a great opportunity for the locals to share their ideas and perspectives to reduce the wildlife-human conflict.

💦Installation of artificial water fountains and

👁Monitoring with the installation of trap cameras near the artificial fountains.

After the project's presentation, two artificial water drinkers were purchased and installed near selected apiaries. The installation included water supply systems. Likewise, camera traps were installed to record the fauna that visits these sites.

Thelma and Carlos facilitated an agreement with the producers to verify the water level in the drinkers and the correct operation of the camera traps at least every 10 days. A direct communication channel was established in case any technical problems need to be resolved.

🤝🏿Implementing workshops to enhance beekeeping technique to reduce and prevent conflict with fauna.

The execution of this project has directly benefited four families who do beekeeping for a living!

Project leader: Rodrigo Nuñez Pérez

🚨Zoonosis and loss of natural prey due to hunting

🚨Landscape transformation

💉Vaccination of dogs and cats in rural areas: The goal is to vaccinate at least 50 dogs in one year.

🤝🏿Workshops with the community: The aim is to implement workshops about responsible pet ownership (with focus on dogs and cats) in at least two communities.

👁Community biological monitoring.

in collaboration with the Animal Karma, the State's Biodiversity Commission & the Sierra de Monte Negro Natural Reserve

Team leader: Mariam Weston

This project is been the first community-based conservation project developed for Sierra de Monte Negro in Morelos; furthermore it is the first project to focus on developing evidence based strategies to reduce threats for small wild cats in Morelos.

All four species of small wild cats that inhabit Mexico have been registered in Morelos. These are the jaguarundi, the margay, the ocelot and the bobcat; most of these cats are endangered or threatened in Mexico. However, there has never been conservation projects in the state for them before. This project aims to understand the status of the feline populations and their threats to reduce them.

🚨Presence of dogs in natural areas with small wild cats (margay and jaguarundi)

🚨Illegal hunting

​💉Free sterilisation and vaccination campaigns for dogs (and cats):

So far, thanks to our free campaigns, we have been able to vaccinate more than 580 dogs and sterilise 130. In total, we have provided free veterinarian care to more than 130 households.

👁Monitoring:

With the help of camera trap monitoring, we identify the areas with the greatest need for threat mitigation. Our monitoring strategy also helps us generate valuable information about the local biodiversity and monitor the project's impact.

​🤝🏿Conservation education programmes and outreach strategies for the local communities:

After conducting surveys to understand the communities’ needs and perception of wildlife, we realised that people are willing to sterilise and vaccinate their dogs. We also discovered that one of the biggest problems is a lack of responsible dog ownership, so we actively provide workshops addressing these issues.

So far, the project has raised awareness and sensitised over 800 children in the community of Tepetzingo regarding the importance of conserving local wildlife and responsible dog ownership.

In addition to all of this, the project is generating strategic alliances with the local government, academia and the private sector to generate information, conservation actions and protocols to enhance conservation strategies in Morelos, Mexico.