Jaguar in Leticia!

[asakiyume]

On Wednesday students at Colombia National University's Amazonia campus (which I have visited with F--it's in Leticia near the airport) discovered a tired-out jaguar curled up next to the wall of one of the buildings.




Photos from the Entre Lineas Amazonas Facebook page

This is big news--jaguars don't usually wander into town. It turned out to be dehydrated and to have a wound in its foot. It was taken to a government site devoted to environmental management that had resources for treating it, and it was resting and recovering ... but then on Wednesday evening, Colombia beat Uzbekistan in a World Cup match, and it seems that all the fireworks set off frightened it, because it escaped from that site ... and was later seen wandering around the grounds of F's old secondary school:

(I brightened up these photos and cropped the second so that hopefully you can see the jaguar in the circle--these photos were sent to F by someone)




Everyone hopes this magnificent animal can either be recaptured, so that it can continue to be treated until it's in very good health for a return to the jungle, or that it makes its way back there as it is, with no unfortunate interactions.

Comments

[wayfaringwordhack]

Yikes, I hope it makes it make to the wild safe and healthy, too, with no unfortunate interactions as you put it.

[asakiyume]

I wonder so many things about how it got where it was found. I can't help thinking of some internet story I saw years ago about a street cat in Turkey bringing her kittens to a vet (a cat whom the vet's office was unfamiliar with)--like she somehow knew. The campus of the National University's Amazonia site has wild land with trails on it, so it could have felt at home there, and of all the human places to stop for rest and maybe help, it's a place where it indeed would find aid and not trouble.

[sovay]

Everyone hopes this magnificent animal can either be recaptured, so that it can continue to be treated until it's in very good health for a return to the jungle, or that it makes its way back there as it is, with no unfortunate interactions.

I too wish the beautiful cat well.

[asakiyume]

Thank you. If only our good wishes could be like protective armor ...

Hoping my friends keep me updated with good news.

[sabotabby]

OMFG. I hope it's okay and is on the mend. Also I would legit die if I was wandering around campus and saw a jaguar, mostly because despite all rational thought it is a KITTY and wants chin scrubs.

[asakiyume]

I KNOW right. I love that jaguar spots are flowers.