Jaguars and pumas are facing extinction in the hot and semi-arid region of Caatinga, Brazil’s northeastern shrublands, as Europe and China construct wind farms. The vast turbines are scaring the animals away from the region’s scant water sources.
The jaguars and pumas abandon their lairs as soon as construction work begins, said Claudia Bueno de Campos, a biologist and a founder of the group ‘Friends of the Jaguars’. The animals then roam vast distances across the dusty plains in search of new streams and rivers.
The weakest perish along the way. Others venture closer to villages, where locals have started laying traps to protect their small herds of goats and sheep.
The wind-power industry has doubled its capacity in Brazil since 2018, and Brazil could become the world’s fourth-biggest producer by 2027, behind China, the U.S. and Germany.
Indigenous groups recently staged protests in Brazil over the installation of turbines on lands they say are rightfully theirs, while environmentalists have also raised concerns that wind farms installed on compacted sand dunes on the northern coast could have damaged underground water reservoirs.
There are now an estimated 30 jaguars and 160 pumas left in the Jaguars’ Ravine, a protected area that is their main habitat in the Caatinga. Since 2009, the number of jaguars in the Caatinga has fallen by 40%, while the number of pumas has dropped by 20%.
The region’s ecosystem could lead to a proliferation of prey such as wild boar, deer and armadillos.
As jaguars and pumas have been pushed into closer contact with communities, many villagers mistakenly believe they are growing in number, not facing extinction. This makes it harder to persuade locals to save them.