Photo by stevewinterphoto | Happy World Animal Day! Jaguars have rebounded in the Brazilian Pantanal, where 95% of the land is privately owned. In the past, many ranchers would kill the cats when they ate their cattle, but jaguars may be worth far more alive than dead. In a paper published by the journal Global Ecology and Conservation, pantheracats biologist Fernando Tortato found that a cow in the Pantanal is worth $2,000 in its lifetime, but a jaguar in this area brings in $108,000 each year in ecotourism income. The Pantanal is a shining example of big-cat and other wildlife tourism as one of the most profitable land-use types on Earth. This is all the more important in world so fixated on beef production and agriculture that clear forests and release carbon into the atmosphere. Local people need to benefit from living with predators, not killing them and selling their parts. A sustainable future includes people living with wildlife and an intact healthy ecosystem. Think of all th...