Yesterday we told you about the jaguar roaming in Crooked Tree. It has killed a number of quarantined calves belonging to a cattle rancher. His caretaker, Melvin Quilter told us via Zoom that the CSFI team camped out for two weeks, but were unable to capture the jaguar and moved out, while the cat is still lurking around the farm.
But today the Chief Forest Officer, John Pinelo, said that they haven't received any complaints to their hotline about the Jaguar. He believes it might have been scared off. And, additionally, they had no dealings with Quilter, but with the owner of the farm. Because of that, Pinelo was a bit skeptical about Quilter's report. Here's what he told us via Zoom.
John Pinelo, Chief Forest Officer
"Around the 14th of March, we got a call from Mr Glen Crawford who is a cattle rancher in Crooked Tree Village that 3 of his cows were killed and he reported seeing a jaguar and two cubs so the day after that, we deployed along with CSFI traps and snares which are both items that we try to use to catch them and they set up traps and they were there for a good while. He called back a while after it looks like we "guzu" him because the jaguar had not returned. Our guys waited there for about two weeks and during this time we got report that some people from the village were hunting the jaguar as well with dogs. We suspect that because of that act, they might have scared the animal away so the animal did not return. Up to date, we have not gotten any update from Mr Crawford other than when he called and said we had "guzu" him, the animal did not come around."
Reporter
"While you may say there may have been no reports of the jaguar in so much time since CSFI has left, he says just two weeks ago, a little bit after the team left, he saw the jaguar killed another calf. And it's not just 3 calves they've lost, they've lost over a dozen."
John Pinelo, Chief Forest Officer
"And he said he called the zoo, he did not call us. He called you as well. None of you two will respond. That is why we have a hot line number, that is why he should have called us if that is the situation. As I said the last report we had from Mr Crawford is that the jaguar did not return and he has not called us back since then. But if we don't know we can't respond and if he chooses to call the news rather than call the people who will actually go out there and try to help then that is his choice. They went through the proper channel the first time, the jaguar wasn't caught, fine, Mr Crawford said that he hasn't seen the jaguar again. Mr Quilter is saying he has seen the jaguar again. So why is his concern not as valid as Mr Crawford just because he doesn't own the farm itself? Like I said, if we get a formal complaint, we will respond, we have nothing against responding, we're the only organization that responds to jaguar situations, we're the only one with the mandate to do it."
After the interview, Pinelo told us that they spoke to the farm owner Crawford, who confirmed Quilter's account that the jaguar is still roaming around the ranch. Pinelo said that CSFI will be heading back into the area tomorrow.
He also explained that CSFI and Forest Department have successfully caught and relocated 9 jaguars - with Anri being their 10th capture.
