Officials do not believe the shooting was legally justified.

Brazilian military police rescued a jaguar in distress from the Rio Negro, Noticias Ambientales reports, but there was an unsettling aspect to the big cat's near-drowning incident.

What's happening?

On Oct. 1, Amazonas Military Police spotted a jaguar struggling to stay afloat in the water, according to People.

Officials leapt into action, devising a "makeshift flotation device" to retrieve the animal, which had been treading water frantically and was "on the verge of drowning." AccuWeather (@accuweather) shared footage of the high-stakes rescue on Instagram.

In spite of the circumstances, the jaguar managed to cling to the device and was transported to shore safely. By the time they reached land, experts from the Federal University of Amazonas and the State Secretariat for Animal Protection had responded to transfer the animal to a vet.

When veterinarians took custody of the jaguar, they made a horrifying discovery -- it had sustained several gunshot wounds, had broken teeth, and lead shrapnel was lodged in its body.

"This was not just a rescue -- it was a life barely hanging on," a veterinarian who operated on the jaguar said.

According to the latest information, no one had reported a jaguar attack in the area requiring the shooting of the animal in self-defense, so officials do not believe the shooting was legally justified.

Why is this incident important?

Video of the jaguar's last-minute reprieve went viral, and the incident made international news, in part due to worldwide interest in the injured animal's fate.

Global news coverage indicated that Brazilian authorities sought the parties responsible for nearly killing the jaguar.

Jaguars are protected from hunting under Brazilian law as well as internationally, and the species is considered "near threatened" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

As such, the incident was most likely the result of poaching, which is one of the greatest threats to jaguar populations.

Poaching is a broader problem, one that is pervasive in a massive, global wildlife trafficking trade. Hunting laws and regulations exist in part to conserve threatened species and to ensure species crucial to the balance of local ecosystems aren't over-hunted.

Interpol estimated that the worldwide wildlife trafficking trade was worth $20 billion as of 2023, a figure that underscored how potentially disruptive the practice can be.

Jaguars are apex predators who sit atop the food chain, and when their numbers -- or the numbers of any critical population in the same chain -- are diminished, the stability of the local ecosystem is jeopardized.

Poaching also adversely impacts local economies in various ways, affecting the food supply through ecological fluctuations and threatening tourism, among other things.

What's being done about poaching?

In 2022, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) conducted an intensive review of jaguar protection laws and practices, advising "more effective implementation of legal consequences" for jaguar poaching.

At an individual level, supporting conservation efforts is one of the best ways to help stop jaguar poaching.

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Officials rescue injured big cat on verge of drowning after escaping suspected poachers: 'A life barely hanging on'