Reducing rates of human-jaguar conflict, through the use of San Martinero cattle, might help to save jaguars. Jaguar by Cautrok77. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
One of the most significant threats to jaguars comes from human-jaguar conflict. In other words, people often kill jaguars in order to protect livestock. While the total number of cattle killed by jaguars is often low in comparison to other causes of death, it is not evenly spaced. This means that some ranchers lose a significant portion of their herds to predators. Also, since cattle ranching is not overly profitable in much of Latin America, any loss can be hard. The problem is not helped by the fact that most cattle varieties have been bred to be docile. This means they have few, if any, anti-predator instincts (Rabinowitz, 2014). The same is not true for San Martinero cattle.
This remarkable breed is descended from the…