Female jaguar rescued and relocated after capture by villagers in Sarteneja

A female jaguar has been rescued and relocated after residents of Sarteneja Village, Corozal captured the big cat. Last night, the Forestry Department, the Belize Zoo, and the Corozal Sustainable Future Initiative taking part in a jaguar research training when they were alerted of the capture. The organizations sprang into action and were able to subdue, tranquilize, and rescue the jaguar. However, according to John Pinelo Jr., Deputy Chief Forest Officer, the narrative was distorted by a citizen who took photos of the animal when it was being removed from the area. Pinelo told Love News that contrary to social media posts the big cat was not found sleeping on the Sarteneja ferry.

John Pinelo Jr. Deputy Chief Forest Officer, Department of Forestry: “Unfortunately the story did not come out of the Forest Department it was some private individual that made up a story and posted it so that’s not the official story. The Forest Department, the Corozal Sustainable Future Initiative and the Belize Zoo were up in Sarteneja for a training to manage jaguars specifically on medication and how to tranquilize jaguars when we were called to assist with a jaguar that was captured. They responded and responded quickly. We tranquilized the animal and we transported the animal in our specialized cage that we have to transport them to an undisclosed location. Undisclosed because we don’t want everybody to know where we’re putting these jaguars. Suffice it to say that it is in a forested area away from human settlements but that is the story. There is no other story to it other than what I just told you that we responded to the complaint in Sarteneja and we captured the animal successfully, the animal was healthy. We did some medical checks on it. We had two international vets with us who took a look at the animal, did some tests, ensured that the animal was healthy and safe and we transported it to a new location so that it’s not going to affect the people in Sarteneja. That is the bottom line of the story. Like I said it is unfortunate that people tend to post things and they’re not aware of what’s going on.”