I was recently in Mexico where I met an inspiring lady called Joann Andrews, an old family friend of my mum's. Many years ago Joann set up Pronatura, a conservation group to help save endangered flora and fauna in her adopted country of Mexico. They help to create conservation programmes which involve the communities living there.

One of Pronatura's programmes is trying to find out how many jaguars are living in Mexico so that they can help in areas where the population is most threatened.

To do this, they desperately need funding for equipment and people. This includes cameras which take photos triggered by passing jaguars (called camera traps), off road vehicles to access the huge areas of jungle, and people to carry out the programme. A camera costs £258.76. With £2,000 we can buy 7 cameras! Will you please help to save these amazing jaguars from extinction?

Here's more about Pronatura's jaguar programme: http://pronatura-ppy.blogspot.co.uk/p/ppyjaguar.html

Pronatura has won awards for its conservation work, including Mexico's Ecological Merit Award for the social impact of its environmental programmes. This link describes the award and gives a description of Pronatura:

http://www.birdlife.org/americas/news/pronatura-wins-mexicos-ecological-merit-awards

This link is to a CNN article about Pronatura and Mexico’s endangered species including the jaguar. It explains the rich biodiversity of the country, something we must all try to protect.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/03/17/mexico.nature3

Jaguars are noble, beautiful creatures which deserve our protection. They have been important to the people of Mexico for a long time. The Mayans believed that they were messengers between the living and the dead and the best Aztec warriors were called Jaguar Knights.

Will you please help to keep these amazing animals from extinction?

With thanks to you for reading this and,
Fingers crossed,
Olivia