Jaguar that escaped during Hurricane Richard blamed in US citizen’s death in Belize
AP | A jaguar that escaped from its cage at a Belize animal rescue centre during Hurricane Richard has been blamed in the mauling death of a U.S. citizen whose body was found on Tuesday. The 4-year-old male jaguar named Max escaped when a tree fell on his cage on Sunday, the same day the Category 1 hurricane hit the country’s Caribbean coast with howling winds and rain.
Authorities found the victim’s body near the animal centre on Tuesday. It had bite marks on the forearm and neck, and the man had apparently been attacked the day before and dragged for some distance into the bushes. Belize’s national police force identified the victim as Bruce Cullerton, an American who also held Belizean citizenship.
Kelly McCarthy, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Belize, confirmed that “a U.S. citizen died from a jaguar attack.” McCarthy could not provide any information on the man’s hometown or name.
The escaped jaguar had been sighted in the area of the attack near the centre, located west of Belize City. Officials of the Belize Forest Department were trying to recapture it using steel-mesh cage traps baited with meat. The 130-pound (59 kilogram) jaguar had been taken to rescue and research centre two years ago, after a tourist resort which had held the animal as an attraction gave it up after tourists complained.
The centre’s operators, Richard and Carol Foster, rescue animals and attempt to return many of them to the wild.
