Jaguar Encounter in Belize!

The last day we were there; we had day open for excursions; four of us chose to go to the zoo. We had a ride there in the morning arranged by our tour guide, which took about an hour. We paid BZ $100 (US $50) for a jaguar encounter, we entered a cage in the jaguar enclosure where we fed him some raw chicken, and felt his paws. This particular jaguar was raised in captivity; his mother was rescued from a farm where she was killing sheep. It was unknown that she was pregnant. We also later hand fed a tapir some carrots; his name was Indy. Tapir are related to horses and rhinos; but to be honest I don’t think Indy looked like either. Indy was incredibly gently while eating his carrots, he even let us pet him. I like how the Belize zoo was run; all the animals there have been rescued or have been born in captivity. Before the animals are put in the zoo; they attempt to rehabilitate the animals into their own environment.

Guest Post By: Elizabeth Miltenberger
West Virginia University