Another jaguar captured in Berbice, Guyana - However, it seems to be an ocelot on the photo.....

Another jaguar captured in Berbice

Another male jaguar was caught at Heathburn Village, East Bank Berbice yesterday

July 25, 2015, The Guyana Chronicle

ANOTHER jaguar, Guyana’s national animal, has been captured in the Ancient County of Berbice. This one, a male, was captured yesterday by cattle and crops farmer Bryan Durant of Pepper Street in Heathburn Village in Region Six.

Durant described the animal as a ‘pest’ that had repeatedly slaughtered his domesticated birds, biting off their heads and removing them from his farm. He told the Guyana Chronicle that he was experiencing great loss in his poultry stocks.

Durant said that after the animal, which preyed at nights, had been spotted, he set up a trap to capture it. The trap, a four-foot contraption made of mesh and divided into two compartments, was secured, and three domesticated birds were used as bait. However, to protect the birds, the walls of their compartment were lined with a smaller gauge of mesh, preventing contact with the predator’s paws. The trap was taken to where the livestock was housed, several yards from the farmer’s home; and at about 02:00hrs, some five hours later, the feline predator was captured.

The animal, weighing approximately eighty pounds, was about four or five feet in length, tail included, and was transported to the New Amsterdam township, several miles away from where it was caught. It was subsequently taken to the Zoological Park in Georgetown.

This is the second jaguar to be caught in East Berbice over the last four days. Last Monday, a male jaguar was fatally shot after it had initially been seen crouching in an inter-lot drain which divides Harkman’s Lane from Pilot Street in the New Amsterdam township.

It was just before 09:00hrs when that ‘beast’ was spotted, and its presence brought the citizenry out in their numbers. Some were naturally fearful, while others were just curious.

Persons used their mobile phones to contact the police and other personnel; but, moments later, Businessman Errol Azar, a licensed firearm owner, arrived on the scene armed with his shotgun. He discharged two shots at the jaguar, and the animal, weighing more than 100 pounds, lay motionless on the street.

Residents and observers, armed with their mobile devices, sought opportunity to have ‘selfies’ with the lifeless animal.

Residents praised the efforts of Azar, while noting that there are many school children in the community, and it would have been heartbreaking if one had been attacked and mauled by the animal.

While no one reported how the animal managed to get into the township of New Amsterdam, it is believed that the jaguar had probably been a pet which may have escaped from its owner’s confinement.

In 2010, a jaguar had been spotted on a ‘paste tree’ at Lot 38 Stanleytown, New Amsterdam, and was subsequently killed; while, in 2008, an ocelot was captured at Maratraite, East Bank Berbice and was taken to the National Zoo.

By Jeune Bailey Vankeric