Lemonal villagers are currently in fear of their lives and that of their pets after a relocated jaguar has been lurking in their community. They tell us the jaguar has already killed several dogs and the residents are now asking for help.
According to the community health worker, Nicole Anthony, she is unable to properly do her work because she's afraid to leave her home. That comes after two of her dogs were killed. The first dog, named Betty, was killed on January 23rd at 9:00 at night. After that, her family tried to keep the other dog, Bruno, safe, but to no avail. We spoke to her over the phone and she explained what happened and how they tried to capture the jaguar themselves.
Nicole Anthony, Resident
"Then the following Thursday, our dog Bruno, that's a hound dog, we had him tied under our step with a light over him. And Bruno around 4am my uncle got up and he was walking in his house and the jaguar which is very sensitive to noise heard him and something told him to look outside and when he looked outside, he saw Bruno dead. When we buried Bruno, couple days after, when we checked, the jaguar was trying to dig him up but the ground was clammy so he couldn't do it."
"So we came up with a solution on how to kill it because it's endangering us. So we borrowed a cage and a dog, we borrowed the dog. So we got that the Saturday after the Thursday and when we put the dog in the cage, my uncle was waiting again. He didn't sleep the entire night and around 5:30 when he said he was going back to sleep, when he looked out the window, he saw the jaguar, but the same time the dog saw it so it stood up to it and it ran. The dog was in the trap for one week and a half but the dog was punishing so I took it out last week Friday and when I took it out, it went to someone else's house and killed his dog."
"I loved my dog, I didn't care for pets, but I loved Bruno, he was one of the best dogs ever. he was so pretty, handsome, mannerly, he never would hurt anything. That jaguar just came at Bruno, Bruno didn't have any warning to bark because it's not a vicious dog and Bruno wasn't even 2, Bruno was around 1 year old. Bruno was my son's dog, that was his only friend because I only have one child and Bruno was the dog my son would play with in the evening, check on it in the morning, so we need a solution."
The villagers have been engaged with the Forestry Department, who had set up cameras that captured the jaguar lurking around the cage. Additionally, they will be holding a meeting with the residents on Sunday afternoon at 2:00.
