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Attacks by Jaguars (Panthera onca) on Humans in Central Brazil: Report of

Three Cases, with Observation of a Death

Article  in  Wilderness and Environmental Medicine · March 2011

DOI: 10.1016/j.wem.2011.01.007 · Source: PubMed

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WILDERNESS & ENVIRONMENTAL MEDICINE, 22, 130 –135 (2011)

CASE REPORT

Attacks by Jaguars (Panthera onca) on Humans in Central

Brazil: Report of Three Cases, with Observation of a
Death
Manoel Francisco Campos Neto, MD; Domingos Garrone Neto, MSc, PhD; Vidal Haddad Jr, MD, MSc, PhD
From the Forensic Medicine Section – POLITEC – Cáceres, Mato Grosso State, Brazil (Dr Campos Neto); Post-Graduation in Zoology,
Sacred Heart University, Bauru City, São Paulo State, Brazil (Dr Garrone Neto); Botucatu School of Medicine, UNESP, São Paulo, Univ
Estadual Paulista and Vital Brazil Hospital, Butantan Institute, Post-Graduation in Zoology, Biosciences Institute, Univ Estadual Paulista,
São Paulo, Brazil (Dr Haddad).

Conflicts between humans and big cats have been known for centuries throughout the world, but have
intensified in recent decades. Recently, attacks by Panthera onca on humans in Brazil have been
brought to the forefront through exposure in the press and because of the severity of the attacks. We
report 3 cases of patients attacked by jaguars in provoked and predatory situations. Two patients
survived the attacks and one died. Attack mechanisms and lesions in victims are discussed. The attacks
demonstrate a real risk of accidents from jaguars in certain regions, such as the Pantanal and the
Amazon.
Key words: animal damage, attacks on human, large carnivores, wildlife, man-jaguar interaction

Introduction
Although conflicts between humans and big cats have
been known for centuries throughout the world, they
have become especially prevalent in areas where expan-
sion of urban centers and agricultural frontiers has de-
creased the habitat size of these animals. Urban expan-
sion, in addition to restricting and even preventing
genetic diversity among remnant populations, reduces
the availability of natural prey. Species are forced to hunt
outside of their protected areas, which may result in
unintended consequences for both man and animal.1-3
Worldwide, hundreds of deaths are caused by large cat
attacks annually.1-3 In Tanzania, East Africa, it is esti-
mated that over 1000 people have been attacked by lions
(Panthera leo) in the last 20 years.4 Between 1984 and
2000, in the mangrove forests of eastern India and west-
ern Bangladesh, statistics show that at least 401 human
deaths have occurred after attacks by Bengal tigers (Pan-
thera tigris tigris), an average of 24 deaths per year.5,6 In
the Americas, the 2 species of big cats are the jaguar
(Panthera onca) and the puma (Puma concolor). The
Corresponding author: Vidal Haddad Jr, MD, PhD, Univ Estadual
Paulista, Departamento de Dermatologia, Caixa Postal 557, 18618-000
Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil (e-mail: haddadjr@fmb.unesp.br).
jaguar is the third largest cat in the world, reaching more
than 2.5 meters in length and 110kg in weight (Figure 1).
Its original distribution included all southern United
States and Latin America, but today it is restricted to the
Amazon rainforest, the Pantanal (a vast wetland situated
on the border of Brazil, Paraguay, and Bolivia), and
protected areas of the Atlantic Forest in eastern Brazil
(Figure 1).7,8 The cougar, also known as the mountain
lion, puma, or as the suçuarana in Brazilian Indian lan-
guage (P. concolor), has a wider distribution and greater
tolerance to the environmental changes occurring in dif-
ferent habitats, ranging from Canada to Patagônia.9
Both species have a history of attacking humans, al-
though only negative interactions between P. concolor
and humans have been reported in the medical literature,
with 20 deaths and at least 82 nonfatal attacks occurring
in the United States and Canada between 1890 and
2001.10 Recently, some attacks by P. onca on humans
have occurred in Brazil and have been brought to the
forefront through exposure in the press and because of
the severity of the attacks.
In this article, we report 3 P. onca attacks in humans
in midwestern Brazil, in transition areas among 3 major
South American ecosystems—the Cerrado (savannah-
like regions), the Pantanal, and the Amazon region—
 Author's personal copy
Attacks by Jaguars on Humans in Brazil
Figure 1. The jaguar (Panthera onca) is the third largest cat of the world and the most powerful predator in the Americas. Photographs: Vidal
Haddad Jr and Domingos Garrone Neto. Map: Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística, Brazil.
highlighting the problem posed by environmental change
and changing human attitudes towards wildlife.
Case Summaries
Case 1: In May 2007, a 40-year-old male Aweti Indian
suffered a nonfatal attack while traveling through the
woods on the shores of Lake Ipawu in the Upper Xingu
Indian Reserve. The victim was traveling to a cassava
plantation early in the morning accompanied by 2 dogs.
The dogs attacked a jaguar lurking just off the trail, about
300 m from the village. Initially, the jaguar avoided
confrontation with the dogs but eventually attacked them
after dropping from the tree where it had been cornered.
Armed with a machete and a stick of wood, the victim
tried to help the dogs by fighting the jaguar. He saw that
his dogs had been killed and he tried to flee but he was
bitten immediately on the left shoulder. The victim
131
struck the animal in the head with the machete and the
jaguar released its grip. When he struck more blows with
the machete, the jaguar attacked from the front, scratch-
ing the victim deeply on the chest and left forearm. At
that moment, another Indian and his dog came to the
victim’s aid. The jaguar attacked and killed the third dog
but the owner eventually drove the jaguar away and it
disappeared into the woods. The victim was taken back
to the village, where he was treated by the tribe’s sha-
man. The shaman applied herbal preparations to the
injuries. He now only shows the scars of the scratches
caused by the attack (Figure 2).
Case 2: Around 6 PM on July 14, 2010, a 17-year-old
white male from Mateus Lemos (Minas Gerais State)
was attacked while returning from a fishing trip in Cac-
eres, Mato Grosso State, in North Pantanal. His compan-
ions reported that a jaguar jumped out of a ravine onto
the boat and bit the victim on the right shoulder, tipping
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132
Figure 2. The attack in Case 1 was provoked by the victim’s dogs that hunted the jaguar. Brazilian Indians kill jaguars to demonstrate power
and prestige (see the necklace with the claws). Note the victim’s scars. Photographs: Domingos Garrone Neto.
him into the water. Shortly after, the jaguar surfaced in
the river with the victim’s head between its teeth. The
boat skipper then smashed an iron pipe into the jaguar
and the animal released the victim and escaped into the
ravine. The first responder on scene applied compressive
bandaging to the injuries of the scalp. En route to med-
ical care they encountered another boat that had a doctor
aboard; that doctor improved placement of the compres-
sive bandages, established venous access, and adminis-
tered intravenous saline solution, an antibiotic (cephalo-
sporin), an anti-inflammatory, and analgesics. He also
recommended the administration of rabies and tetanus
vaccinations.
The victim was admitted to a hospital about 8 hours
after the attack. Physical examination showed perfora-
tions from the jaguar’s fangs (marked in the fractured
and extracted bone fragments of the skull) and facial,
right arm, and right back scratches, as well as perfora-
tions to the victim’s body. He was diagnosed with cra-
nial-encephalic trauma, with brain and bone tissue loss
on the left side of the head (Figure 3). Surgeons removed
bone fragments and devitalized brain tissue, repaired the
dura mater, and sutured skin lesions with rigorous atten-
tion to hemostasis of affected vessels. The victim sur-
vived and currently has a memory deficit (traumatic
amnesia and aphasia) and awaits further surgery for
placement of a cranial acrylic prosthesis.
Campos Neto et al
Case 3: A 21year-old fisherman from Cáceres (Mato
Grosso State) was attacked in a remote area of Cáceres
county. The attack occurred around 7: 30 PM on June 24,
2008, in a place known as “Pacu Gordo” on the banks of
the Paraguay River near Taiamã Nature Reserve. It is an
open site, measuring about 25 m wide and 10 m deep,
surrounded by native vegetation with poor natural light-
ing, requiring the use of open fire and artificial lighting
so that fishermen can spend the night. The victim was
sleeping in a tent with the entrance closed. The animal
entered the tent and inflicted bites to the posterior cervi-
cal region and head of the fisherman (bilaterally, with
tissue and bone loss) as well as claw scratches and
punctures, especially in the pectoral region and the back
of the shoulders and limbs. Death was attributed to high
cervical transection of the spinal cord. The body was
dragged approximately 60 m into the woods and recov-
ered by fishermen who responded to a radio warning
from the victim’s father. The attack was classified as
predatory. Necropsy, performed by one of the authors
(MFCN), described the following: The body had com-
minuted fractures (several fragments) associated with
traumatic dislocation of the cervical spine, with severe
spinal cord injury, cerebrospinal fluid leakage, tissue
loss, and multiple lesions from mixed action (perfora-
tions, cuts, and contusions) directed to the posterior
regions of the cervical spine. There were significant
 Author's personal copy
Attacks by Jaguars on Humans in Brazil
Figure 3. This violent attack by a jaguar on a tourist could have killed the victim, who presented with severe lesions in the cephalic segment,
with fractures and loss of cranium bone fragments and cerebral tissue (Case 2). This was classified as a predatory attack. Photographs: Manoel
Francisco de Campos Neto.
vascular-nerve cervical lesions (arteries, veins, and
nerves) and traumatic brain injury with fracture and
tearing of part of the left hemicranium and perforations
and scratches from claws on various parts of the body
(Figure 4).
Discussion and Conclusions
The 3 attacks took place under different situations. In the
first case, the jaguar was likely provoked after being
cornered by the dogs. The outcome of this encounter did
not result in the victim’s death probably because of his
defensive reaction, striking the animal’s face, and the
support from a passerby.
The second and third attacks, however, could be con-
sidered predatory in nature. In Case 2 (non-fatal attack),
the jaguar held the young man’s head with its fangs
thereby restraining its prey in an unprovoked attack. The
blows from an iron pipe forced the cat to abandon its
prey and flee. A combination of factors contributed to the
patient’s survival, despite the long interval between the
attack and the medical treatment. These measures in-
cluded field first aid measures to control the bleeding,
intravenous medication administration, and a lack of
major vessel involvement along with the protection
133
given by the skull and subsequent efforts of the medical
team headed up by a neurosurgeon.
In Case 3, the situation was by definition a predatory
attack, as the animal broke into the tent where the victim
was sleeping, attacked the posterior cervical region and
dragged the body into the woods. The locations of the
bites, punctures, and scratches reinforce these observa-
tions (prey immobilization and restraint), adding a se-
quential character to the predation movements.
The marks and trauma to the victim’s body suggested
some characteristic features of jaguar attacks: the main
injuries (possibly causing instantaneous death) were
bites to the cervical spine with torn nerve, muscle, and
cutaneous tissue, as well as cervical vertebrae fractures;
the force of the bite and rotational movements to pro-
mote spine displacement is characteristic of prey kills by
this species. Other lesions were the perforations caused
by the claws when gripping the victim’s shoulders (in-
dicating a strong compression into the ground at the time
of restraint and feeding). There was also a skull fracture
with tissue removal on the side of the head (mainly the
left side), associated with the beginning of feeding, and
multiple scratch marks on the upper chest (anterior, near
the neck and back) and on proximal portions of the upper
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134
Figure 4. A fatal predatory attack in which the victim was killed by bites to the posterior cervical region. There is extensive destruction of bones,
muscular and cutaneous tissue, blood vessels and nerves. Photographs: Manoel Francisco de Campos Neto.
limb—suggesting position changes by the predator in
moving the victim and starting to feed.
These attacks, although different in motivation, dem-
onstrate that the risk of accidents from jaguars (P. onca)
is real in certain regions. Important factors contributing
to this risk include the increasing loss of hunting habitats
and availability of wild prey (pecaris, deer, and capi-
baras), the destruction and fragmentation of jaguars’
natural habitat, as well as the intentional presence of tourists,
fishermen, and hunters in territorial areas of adult animals
during the mating season or when they have offspring.
The treatment of attacks by big cats is multifactorial.
The patient usually presents with extensive skin lacera-
tions and may have fractures and neurovascular injuries, espe-
cially in the neck and head.11-13 Ideally, these injuries should
be managed in a trauma center by a surgical team employing
radiological examinations searching for possible fractures.
Suturing the wounds may be necessary (there are 3
considerations to suture a wound caused by a wild ani-
mal: cosmetics, function, and risk factors) but predis-
poses them to infection caused mainly by streptococci
and staphylococci and, rarely, Pasteurella multocida.
The preparation and cleansing of the wounds to be su-
tured are main factors in the success of the measure.13
The risk factors for infection are: 1) location of the
lesions (for example higher risk in areas of compromised
Campos Neto et al
vascularity); 2) type of the wound (deep punctures, macerated/
crushed tissue are associated with joint or fracture contamina-
tion); 3) the characteristics of the victim (older than 50 years,
chronic diseases, immunocompromised); and 4) biting species
(large cats produce deep punctures).13
The use of prophylactic antibiotics is not recom-
mended in all cases but should be reserved for use in
moderate-to-high risk cases11-13 If used, antibiotics must
be administered early and the recommended antibiotics
include a penicillin and a first generation cephalosporin,
or a second generation cephalosporin or Clindamycin
and a fluoroquinolone.13 Tetanus prophylaxis is neces-
sary and rabies post-exposure prophylaxis treatment may
be indicated depending on the epidemiology of terrestrial
rabies in the specific area.
In the Porto Jofre region (Cáceres county) and the
west and north regions of the Pantanal, package tours
are offered to view jaguars in the wild. The animals are
attracted with food (cevas) or by simulating calls made
by females in the breeding season, using the esturrador,
a type of instrument made from bamboo (MFCN, per-
sonal observation). These practices have made human
presence less intimidating for certain animals. Big cats
can become very dangerous when surprised by sudden
movements or unwary postures by tourists, especially
during the mating season or when cubs are present.
 Author's personal copy
Attacks by Jaguars on Humans in Brazil
Jaguar hunting has been practiced for centuries among
the indigenous peoples in the Upper Xingu Reserve, who
inhabit the protected areas of Mato Grosso State. Hunt-
ing is stimulated by social prestige of wearing the fur and
claws from a jaguar. One of the authors (DGN), during
field work conducted in the Gaucha do Norte and Ca-
narana municipalities (Mato Grosso State) reported 16
jaguar specimens killed by a single hunter over a period
of about 10 years. Case 1 (non-fatal attack on the Aweti
Indian) mimicked circumstances when hunting jaguars,
where dogs are used to corner the cats in trees or water.
It is noteworthy that jaguar attacks under natural condi-
tions are rare and that these animals prefer to feed on natural
prey such as capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris), pec-
caries (Pecari tajacu and Tayassu peccary), tapirs (Tapirus
terrestris), and caimans (Alligatoridae family). The disap-
pearance of wild spaces, however, has limited their pursuit
of natural prey, and these animals need large areas to
survive. This fact has favored the increase of conflicts
between big cats and man in many locations around the
world.
Efforts by governmental and nongovernmental orga-
nizations in recent decades have had some success in
finding ways to minimize the deleterious effects of these
contacts and to preserve the species. There are projects to
indemnify farmers in areas where jaguars attack cattle,
minimizing the impact of predation and compensating
the farmers to prevent hunting of jaguars. Other organi-
zations follow the movement of jaguars through electronic
monitoring, contributing to jaguar preservation. However,
such encounters and potential fatalities in human/jaguar
encounters may continue to occur in places where there is
limited awareness of the potential threat, and when jaguar
habitat and natural prey are compromised.
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to thank Centro Nacional de
Pesquisas para a Conservação de Predadores Naturais
(CENAP) for information on the fatal attacks.
View publication stats
135
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