Puma is released in Paraná almost 3 years after being run over; Look

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After almost three years of treatment, a puma that had been run over on a highway in the interior of Paraná managed to recover and was released into the wild. The animal is a four-and-a-half-year-old male and was named Leôncio.

The jaguar was released on April 22 in an area of ​​connectivity between the Iguaçu National Park and protected areas of the Itaipu Dam. To enable the release, several tests were carried out to assess whether the animal’s behaviors and habits were similar to those of a free-living jaguar.

According to Pedro Henrique Teles, a veterinarian from the division of protected areas in Itaipu, some of the criteria observed were distance from humans, the ability to climb and descend trees and contact with different species in the region.

Leôncio arrived at the Bela Vista de Itaipu Biological Refuge, in Foz do Iguaçu (PR), in July 2019, taken by environmental police. The animal was run over on a stretch of the BR-163, between the Paraná cities of Mercedes and Guaíra.

The jaguar arrived at the institute about eight hours after the accident. The animal was in a coma, with signs of traumatic brain injury and a severe fracture in the right femur.

“We did the first treatment to try to keep him alive. At that moment, we thought he would die, because he was in a very serious condition. We had little hope that he would get better”, says Teles.

After the initial treatments, Leoncio had to undergo surgery due to a fractured femur. The procedure was performed in partnership with specialists from UFPR (Federal University of Paraná), who had to place a plate, a pin and 16 screws in the animal’s leg.

During examinations for treatment, it was also found that the jaguar had already been a victim of hunters in the past. Veterinarians identified marks of five projectiles on the animal’s body.

According to Pedro Teles, Leôncio’s recovery process was slow. Initially, the animal had to stay in a restricted space, in the biological refuge itself, to avoid further damage. Just nine months after being hit by a car, he was taken to a larger area, where a process of adaptation to life in nature was carried out.

The animal was kept in an enclosure built on a rural property in the region, with an area of ​​preserved forest. The space made it possible for the animal to be monitored, while it regained the habits of life in the near-natural habitat.

Now, with the release, the jaguar will continue to be monitored with a geolocation collar, which allows specialists to follow the animal’s behavior in the wild. According to monitoring, since his release, Leôncio has walked at least 30 kilometers, covering an area of ​​about 2,200 hectares.

Professionals from ICMBio (Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation) and the Onças do Iguaçu project also acted in the animal recovery process.

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