Alessandro Falco (Italy) shows the moment a jaguar wakes from stem-cell injections.
This jaguar was rescued after devastating wildfires swept through western Brazil in 2020. Third-degree burns to its paws and stomach destroyed tendons and exposed bone. It was given stem-cell injections to speed up the regeneration of new tissue.
The wildfires were started by landowners during an extreme dry season with the aim of clearing land mainly for use as pasture. The resulting fires impacted nearly a third of the entire Pantanal - the world’s largest wetland and a jaguar stronghold. More than 17 million animals died.
This survivor - now named Amanaci, meaning mother of the rain - had been lactating when rescued and most likely walked on burning ground in an attempt to save its cubs.
Since the fires, Amanaci has mated and now has a young male cub. Although she can never be returned to the wild, there’s hope that her cub could soon be released.
Italy
Alessandro is a documentary photographer whose visual research is focused on the environmental and social issues affecting the Amazon Rainforest. His photographs have been published by international media, including The New York Times, National Geographic, Die Zeit, CNN, GQ, Newsweek Japan and Al Jazeera. In 2016, his documentation of a severe drought in the Brazilian North East was exhibited by the United Nations at the First World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul.
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