International media coverage of the Bolivian jaguar trade

The trade in jaguar body parts is viewed as an alarming threat to the
jaguar, and there is the assumption that Chinese demand is driving the
trade. However, there has been little analysis of the discourses around
the trade both with respect to the Chinese public, internationally and in
source countries. We analysed 298 media articles in Chinese, English and
Spanish languages from 2010 to 2019, to understand the disparities in
reporting of this jaguar trade and what impact they would have for jaguar
conservation. Temporal analysis showed that this trade did not receive
global media attention until 2018, despite having taken place for a couple
of years. Only four (teeth, skin, head and claws) out of the 15 body parts
reported to have been traded had evidence of trade based on seizures.
Jaguars were viewed positively, while the experiences of local people who
suffer losses from coexisting with jaguars were rarely captured. The claim
that the trade was Chinese-driven was strongly and positively associated
with whether seizure and arrest evidence was presented in an article,
though articles held different views on if Chinese companies were
involved. English and Spanish language articles stated that traditional
Chinese medicine was the main use of the jaguar body parts and were more
likely to mention that this trade was Chinese-driven; while journalistic
investigations and narratives from within China were missing. This
research highlights the evidence gap with respect to media coverage of the
jaguar trade, and stresses the need to collaborate with stakeholders whose
voices are less prominent in the articles analysed, such as Chinese
communities and local people who live around jaguars.