In July, we told you about the livestock-eating wild jaguar caught on a farm in the Northern Lagoon area of the Belize District. The Belize Zoo and the Forest Department were called in, and extracted the Jaguar. But it died shortly after it arrived at the zoo. Today we asked Minister Figueroa - who is a jaguar expert about the ordeal.
Hon. Omar Figueroa, Minister of State Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry, Environment, & Sustainable tourism
"There is a lot of lessons that we need to learn when we have these types of incidents. No one should attempt to capture a jaguar if you don't have the expertise. If there is a threat of a jaguar to a farm you need to call the forest department you need to call the people that have the expertise to deal with it."
"I think a lot of Jaguar incidents go by unreported and so we need to be very careful because these Jaguars are animals that live at low densities and so when farmers start to take action into their own hands to get rid of these Jaguars, we can end up having a tremendous impact on the national population of Jaguars. As you all know Jaguars being the top predators in the Belizean ecosystems, play an extremely important role in maintaining the health and the viability of the wildlife of the flora and fauna that are in the Belizean landscape."
Even though it is not common for Jaguars to present themselves in areas populated with humans, Figueroa says if you do spot one, rather than trapping it you should immediately call the Belize Forest Department at 822-1524 who will come and extract the Jaguar without injuring or killing it.
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