It's been about a month since a jaguar has been terrorizing the farmers of Crooked Tree. Unlike Anri, which went after dogs in Lemonal village, this jaguar has been hunting cattle. But for one rancher, it's been targeting animals who were infested with screwworm and had to be quarantined. So apart from the deadly insect, the ranchers also have to contend with what they say is a tricky jaguar that just can't seem to be caught.
The Corozal Sustainable Future Initiative had been trying for weeks to capture it but to no avail. And according to one caretaker, about two weeks ago, they packed up their equipment and left - even though the jaguar is still roaming the area.
Melvin Quilter explained via Zoom that now they're out of options.
Melvin Quilter, Cattle Ranch Caretaker
"Apparently they came the following day because we notified the Belize Zoo because I have a guy there I know as a friend and they said their hands are all tied up because apparently now Forestry wants CSFI to take over and what I noticed so far is that they haven't been doing a good job. They were there about a whole week and while they were there trying to capture the jaguar, the jaguar walked almost on top of them, like ten to fifteen feet where they were staying the night. They put snares, they set traps, but what the guy told me from the Belize Zoo is snares doesn't work again. The same issue again, the jaguar was just eating calves while the rangers were there, apparently setting traps and surveillance and stuff. So now we don't know what's the other step to do. Recently about two days ago, I watched one drag a calf right in front of us. That was after the rangers left because they just left and didn't notify us they were leaving the place so now we don't have any other option."
"Recently I spoke to this guy from Belize Zoo and told him about our situation after the jaguar ate the other calf after he left. He was like, the only thing I can do since my hands are all tied up is to at least help you guys with lights. the lights are something that they use for coyotes, they go all around in different colors so that's the only help we got from Belize Zoo because they said that's the only thing they can do and apparently it's working a kind of way but the herd of cattle we have at the ranch that I work is too big so we have to wait everyday for it to capture one and we can't do anything. Recently we had a bull tied in the corral and this was a bull that weighed over 1,000 pounds and the jaguar literally went inside the corral to try to catch him but the bull is too big so it just broke the corral."
"The best thing that we're trying to do right now is to see if we can get back Belize Zoo in this project again."
We contacted the Forestry Department who said they are working on the report and will have the details tomorrow.
