Jaguar Scare The Extent of Suffering Caused by Human-Jaguar Encounters in the Colombian Amazon

Abstract

This work addresses the possible dimensions of socio-environmental conflicts in the Colombian Amazon, focusing on human-jaguar encounters (Panthera onca) as a phenomenon that transcends the ecological domain and is embedded within cultural, symbolic, and health dimensions. Special emphasis is placed on the dimension of psychic suffering, which can manifest through susto. Phenomena such as deforestation, extractivism, and illegal economies have intensified these encounters, generating tensions that impact both biodiversity and the social and health dynamics of Indigenous peoples.

From the field of medical anthropology, and drawing upon clinical experience in mental health, this study posits that jaguar attacks transcend physical injury, producing psychic and spiritual suffering expressed as susto. This notion is understood as a complex experience that articulates emotions, narratives, and care systems, thereby avoiding its categorical psychopathological reduction by biomedicine.

Furthermore, the role of the jaguar within Amazonian worldviews is examined, incorporating concepts such as Amerindian perspectivism and multinaturalism to analyze the ontological tensions between culture and nature, as well as the human and the non-human. Finally, the crisis of the Anthropocene underscores the urgent need to implement profound transformations that integrate health, spirituality, territory, and conservation.