Rescued from starvation, jaguar needs permanent shelter

Lucky Boy is the rescued Black Jaguar that now calls the Belize Zoo, home. He was saved after he was left for dead in captivity in Southern Belize. Well, the Belize Wildlife Conservation Network along with the Forestry Department and the Zoo retrieved him from where he was left to starve.  Lucky Boy, as he is now known, continues to recover.  And as he gains strength and continues to grow, there is a need for an adequate space for him to be on exhibit with other animals at the zoo. On Saturday the zoo will be hosting a fundraiser for a new jaguar enclosure.

Tony Garel, Animal Management Supervisor, the Belize Zoo

Tony Garel

“Lucky Boy came her unplanned and right now we have him in a sort of a quarantined area where we are monitoring his health but we will love to share with the Belizean public Lucky Boy at some point in time when he is in much better health. And to provide him with a nice enclosure we are raising funds and tomorrow we are having a barbecue at the Zoo and it’s right on the road-side. It’s eight dollars a plate and if you pay a little bit extra, twenty-five dollars, you get a barbecue and a chance to meet Lucky Boy.”

Andrea Polanco

“At what time will this barbecue sale start?”

Tony Garel

“Well the grills will be cranked up around ten so I figure that around eleven and close to noon we will have barbecue ready. But if people want, they can come and see the Zoo and have a barbecue after.”

Andrea Polanco

“Do you guys have a ball park figure of how much you’re aiming to fundraise?”

Tony Garel

“The cage is still, the design of the cage is still in progress. But it’s going to be somewhere around twenty-thousand dollars to just build an enclosure.”