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We found a black cat, who's been nothing but good luck...

Daniel Ortiz Reporting

The black jaguar, Bosh - now named Lucky Boy - is in good health, showing signs of improvement, with his playful and energetic attitude to being fed.

It's a complete turn-around in behaviour from the first day at zoo, when he was quiet and reserved in a far corner of his cage. He now has the company of the staff at the Belize Zoo, and he even has his own song.

But it wasn't such easy-going when Lucky Boy was discovered in his extreme distress. The zoo staff described his health condition as the worst they've had to deal with.

Humberto Wohlers - Animal Management Supervisor, Belize Zoo
"We heard about it. We were contacted by the Forestry Department, and we moved immediately to the cite. Find a different situation, not very prepared when you go the first time, we started brainstorming how to best transport a very emaciated jaguar."

So, they had the difficult task of transporting the jaguar, which was in poor health. They had to get it into a crate and transport it without using tranquillizers.

Humberto Wohler
"Normally, animals would take a little while to be crate-trained and any additional things in their environment change their behavior. So, we know that crate-training would be the best way - the safest way. We didn't think any more about anesthesia, just crate-training this jaguar, and having the jaguar confident in that box."

They eventually got it in the crate after several hours of coaxing and they transported it to zoo, where they started feeding it to improve it's health.

Sharon Matola - Director, Belize Zoo
"I'm really proud of my staff. It's really hard to crate train an animal even if you have an unlimited amount of time, and they did it in less than a day. So, I was astounded at that. Then, it came up here, and it was the thinest, most emaciated jaguar I've ever seen. We've gotten 14 jaguars in our rehab program. He's the worst conditioned jaguar. After you finished feeling really bad for him, you have to get to work, and get him up to score. It's just been a great thing in my life because every day, you see a steady improvement. He is just an amazingly intelligent animal. He responds to positive reinforcement. We've had jaguars come in here that it takes weeks to get them to settle down. They'll rush the fence; they'll bite at the fence. They're mad; they're angry. He was confused, and he did stay in the corner for a while, and just kind of - like any of us I think would have. 'I don't know where I am. I don't know what I did to deserve this.'"

While working with Lucky Boy, the staff discovered it was suffering from another medical condition.

Humberto Wohler
"So, once the animal got safely here at the zoo, we started to slowly feeding jaguar with a special diet. We had a group of vet students, led by Dr. Isabel, and they conducted some fecal analysis for the animals, and most importantly for Luck Boy. We found out that he has hookworm, and he's going to be treated for that too."

The staff immediately started working on getting Lucky Boi used to life at the zoo, but they were pleasantly surprised that he was a smart animal, who showed signs of good treatment at his former home, even if the former owners fell on hard times.

Sharon Matola
"So, what you do is you spend a lot of time. It's time investment, feeding him - he has his own song. He knows his name is Lucky Boi. In 3 days, he learned to do a high-five. The boy is smart, and I also like to say that I'm not really sure of the conditions that he was kept in. I've never been to the resort, but he wasn't mistreated. A cat with that personality has a background of being well cared for, so I don't know what happened along the way. All I know is that we're going to get him 100% healthy. We'll gently introduce him to Springfield and CT over time. There's a way that you can do that. We would be under the advice of someone who's done that a great amount of time in his history, working with big cats. I don't perceive any problems."

Daniel Ortiz
"Will his permanent home be at the Belize Zoo?"

Sharon Matola
"Absolutely."

Lucky Boy will remain in the quarantine section of the Zoo, until he returns to full health. 7News will return on that day to see him join the general animal population at the facility.