The hunting of a jaguar in Formosa resulted in an exemplary sentence of environmental restoration by the Justice system.
The three hunters, who are currently serving effective imprisonment, will now also have to pay 5 million pesos each.
The Justice system defined this requirement so that the hunters of the jaguar can access any benefit of freedom.
The decision was made by the Federal Court of Appeals of Resistencia, Chaco, which rejected the complaint filed by the defense of the convicted.
It involves Viterman Ponce de León, Walter Hugo Ponce de León, and Claudio Hugo Cisneros, convicted by the Justice system on August 15, 2025, for the hunting of a jaguar.
The three men are currently serving their sentence in prison for violating the Law 22.421 on Wildlife Conservation, after illegally killing a jaguar in the province of Formosa.
The justice system set clear conditions for the hunting of the jaguar in Formosa
The federal judge of first instance in Resistencia established that, to process any request for parole, the convicted must first comply with two environmental obligations:
- Individual payment of five million pesos within 90 days, exclusively destined for the Jaguar Conservation Program of the Ministry of Production and Environment of Formosa.
- Mandatory training on protection and coexistence with the Panthera onca species and other protected species.
The Federal Court ratified that decision by rejecting the appeal filed by the defense. This argued that conditioning freedom of movement on the payment of an economic obligation affected the rights of their clients.
What the Federal Court said
Judges Rocío Alcalá and Enrique Bosch stated that the challenged resolution “was limited to ordering a measure of impulse and prior verification”. This is considered necessary to channel the processing of the request.
They also pointed out that “at this stage, there is no irreparable harm” that would allow for an appeal. With that argument, the Court closed the possibility of advancing the request for freedom without meeting the environmental conditions.
The hunting of the jaguar and the justice system thus became intertwined in a ruling that prioritizes the repair of ecological damage over procedural benefits.
Thus, if the convicted do not pay or complete the training, they will remain deprived of their freedom under the terms established in the original sentence.
The case takes on special relevance in Formosa, where the jaguar is in critical danger of extinction. According to the newspaper El Comercial de Formosa, the preservation of the species has become an environmental priority for the province.
The sentence sets a precedent in environmental justice: the repair of ecological damage is not optional, but an unavoidable condition to regain freedom.
