Man Filmed Pulling Live Puma by Tail on Piracicaba Highway

Overview

• A witness-recorded video shows a motorcyclist pulling a live onça-parda (puma, Puma concolor) by the tail on Rodovia Cornélio Pires in Piracicaba, with the animal appearing disoriented after an apparent vehicle strike.
• Police and wildlife responders mobilized a coordinated force-tarefa that defined an about 1 km² search grid and conducted on-foot sweeps in riparian forest and nearby sugarcane to locate the felid.
• Sources disagree on the animal’s whereabouts: Associação Mata Ciliar said Polícia Ambiental rescued the puma while the Prefeitura de Piracicaba and the highway concessionaire Via Colinas reported they had not independently confirmed its location.
• A biologist and veterinarians who reviewed the footage described the puma as breathless and stunned and warned that handling an impaired wild predator creates a serious bite risk to people and can worsen the animal’s injuries.
• Road collisions with large wild felids are a known conservation and safety issue in the region, and officials asked residents to report sightings as they work to secure the animal and review response procedures.