AN UPDATE ON BLACK JAGUAR “LUCKY BOY”

From Sharon Matola . . .

So many people are coming to the zoo and looking for Lucky Boy.  His fan club is active, that’s for certain, and he has become used to being “a prima donna".  He certainly knows his name, and when called, Lucky Boy doesn’t appear, he “performs”.

What does that mean in black jaguar-speak?  Well, the boy slowly and carefully “stalks” from the back of his new home, until he stealthily reaches the front.  As cameras click left and right, he actually seems to recognize that he is pleasing his visitors.

In the late afternoons, Lucky Boy shows off his swimming skills, too.  He will dive into his pond and to the delight of visitors, swim around and around as if he were training for the “Jaguar Olympics”.  Zookeeping staff decided that putting a couple of large tilapia fish in the pond would add to his aquatic adventures.  Guess what?  Lucky Boy could care less.  He swims along with the tilapia and is no threat to their pond scenario at all!

Lucky Boy continues to enjoy his “encounters”.   There is an encounter enclosure in the back, and when visitors enter, Lucky Boy readily appears.  He happily gives his guests an enthusiastic “high five” and then shows off another trick, a “yoga stretch”.  The stretch is meant to show his massive size.  This gorgeous black feline is 6 ft 8 inches from the tip of this handsome tail to the tip of his kiss-able nose.

In January, Cornell Vet School during a clinic, tranquilized Lucky Boy.  Due to having damaged teeth from his unfortunate past, he was given two root canals.  This has assured that Lucky Boy has pain-free eating.  He was also weighed.  This big black fellow tipped the scales at 165 lbs.  All three vets present were insistent that Lucky Boy gain thirty more pounds.  Well, was he ever happy with that diagnosis!  Lucky Boy loves to eat!  And we are happy to comply. 

Come and visit Lucky Boy!  He makes many people proud that there are so quite a few two-legged animals who understand and agree with the Mahatma Gandhi words:  “The  

Greatness of a Nation and its Moral Progress Can be Shown in the Way its Animals are Treated”.

It’s Party Time for Predators at the Belize Zoo!

The Belize Zoo recently celebrated two important milestones, with a fantastic “Predator Party” for Junior Buddy the Jaguar’s sixth birthday and Panama the Harpy Eagle’s tenth birthday. To mark the occasions, zoo officials invited children from La Democracia Pre-School and the Infant Two class from the Howard Smith School in Benque Viejo del Carman to join in the celebration and learn more about the contribution of these apex predators to the health of the forest.

 Environmental Educator Jamal Andrewin-Bohn shared information on wildlife conservation with the children and, as a special treat, gave them an up-close encounter with Lucky Boy, the black jaguar whose rescue by the zoo and return to good health in its care has captured the hearts of people all over Belize and beyond. All in all, it was another great day at the “Best Little Zoo in the World!”

Watch this wonderful video to learn more about the Predator Party and to hear Sharon Matola and Jama Andrewin-Bohn discuss two of our favorite predators! Party on!