For the first time in Argentina, a court brought a poaching case to trial orally and publishes that made the country discuss. In July 2024, four men killed a jaguar in the region of Estanislao del Campo, then boasting of the gesture with photographs and videos spread on social media. The images, which showed the skinned animal and its skin stretched on a sheet, caused disdain and led to the opening of an immediate investigation.
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A symbolic species in critical danger
The jaguar, known locally as Yagureté, has been declared national natural monument in 2001 and is protected by special laws. Despite this, its survival is seriously threatened: in Argentina there are just 250 specimens, of which only twenty in the great chaco area. It is the largest feline on the American continent, now classified in a critical danger by the conservation bodies. The loss of the jaguar would also mean irreparable damage to the country’s ecosystem and biodiversity.
The sentence and the symbolic value
The trial ended on August 13, 2025 with a two -year prison sentence for the four defendants: Viterman Ponce de León, Walter Hugo Ponce de León, Claudio Hugo Cisneros and Máximo Cisneros. Three of them will discourage the penalty under house arrest with work permit, while one will go to prison. For Argentine justice it is a historical precedent, considered an important step in the fight against illegal hunting.
The reactions of environmental associations
The verdict was welcomed as a victory by the environmental associations, including Greenpeace Andine and the Red Yaguareté, who followed the case from the beginning. Hernán Giardini, coordinator of the Boschi di Greenpeace campaign, said it is “A historical sentence on one of the causes that seriously endanger the species: the furtive hunt. Now it is time to face the deforestation, another great threat”. This sentence represents not only a punishment for those responsible, but also a clear message: nature and its most vulnerable species finally begin to count in the courtrooms.
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