Brazil: Beautiful jaguar dragged out to be used for press event; shot and killed afterwards

BRAZIL -- A jaguar featured at an Olympic torch ceremony was shot dead by a soldier shortly after the event in the Brazilian Amazon city of Manaus as the animal escaped from its handlers, an army statement said.

The jaguar was killed on Monday at a zoo attached to a military training center when a soldier fired a single pistol shot after the animal, despite being tranquilized, approached the soldier, the army said.

“We made a mistake in permitting the Olympic torch, a symbol of peace and unity, to be exhibited alongside a chained wild animal. This image goes against our beliefs and our values,” the local organizing committee Rio 2016 said in a statement, adding: "We guarantee that there will be no more such incidents at Rio 2016.”

A smiling yellow jaguar known as Ginga is the mascot of the Brazilian Olympic team.

The shooting caused uproar among animal rights groups, which questioned why the animal was involved in the Olympic event.

"When will people (and institutions) stop with this sick need to show power and control by confining, taming and showcasing wild animals?" the Rio de Janeiro-based animal rights group Animal Freedom Union said on its Facebook page.

The jaguar is a nearly threatened species that has already been wiped out in Uruguay and El Salvador, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The use of Juma, as the jaguar was known, at the event was illegal, according to Ipaam, the Amazonas state government environmental authority that oversees the use of wild animals.

"No request was made to authorize the participation of the jaguar "Juma" in the event of the Olympic torch," Ipaam said in a statement.

Ipaam said it is investigating the incident.

(Reuters News - June 21, 2016)

Boy critical after being mauled by jaguars at Arkansas zoo

ARKANSAS -- A 3-year-old boy who was mauled by jaguars after falling into their exhibit at a zoo in Arkansas on Friday is in critical condition, a hospital spokesman said.

The child was seized at the neck by one of two jaguars and at the foot by the second cat after falling 15 feet (4.5 meters) into the enclosure at the Little Rock Zoo, his father and grandfather, who were with him when it happened, told Little Rock police.

The boy suffered extensive scalp lacerations, a depressed skull fracture and several puncture wounds, the police report quoted a doctor at Arkansas Children’s Hospital at Little Rock as saying.

The wounds did not appear to be life-threatening, the police report said.

The boy’s father and grandfather said they threw a camera bag and an empty water hose spool at the animals, causing them to drop the child, according to the police report.

When zoo personnel arrived they entered the exhibit and used fire extinguishers to keep the jaguars at bay until the rescue was completed, according to police.

Authorities said they were trying to establish how the child fell into the open-air exhibit at the zoo, one of the state’s most popular attractions.

A hospital spokesman declined to identify the child, citing the family’s request for privacy and the age of the patient.

The child’s family lives in Maumelle, a Little Rock suburb, according to the police report.

The jaguar exhibit has been closed to the public pending further review of the incident, a zoo spokeswoman said.

(Las Vegas Review-Journal-Oct 10, 2014)