Oct 28 2010 Filed under: Belize News. 0 Comments

Max, the Killer Jaguar, captured and euthanized

Channel 5 Belize | Bruce Cullerton was mauled to death by Max the Jaguar, on Monday night. It is a stunning and rare event and also a tragic one. Cullerton was the neighbor of Richard and Carol Foster, two outstanding film makers for the National Geographic Channel. Cullerton was an established roving mechanic and his remains will be cremated and the ashes will be scattered near the entrance to one of his favorite caves. But back to the cat, Max fled from captivity when a mango tree fell on his cage. How it came in contact and killed Cullerton has still not been ascertained but it is believed that he was attempting to save his dogs from the jaguar. On Tuesday night, Max was captured by a team of animal experts. News Five’s Isani Cayetano was has the details of Max’s capture.

Isani Cayetano, Reporting

Four year old Max, a male jaguar which escaped from captivity during Hurricane Richard over the weekend was snared and euthanized around ten-thirty p.m. on Tuesday after the vicious mauling of Bruce Cullerton the night before. Cullerton was planning to relocate to the United States for medical treatment on the day he was killed. He was a neighbor and family friend of Richard and Carol Foster, both renowned filmmakers. Cullerton was attacked and mangled by this hundred and thirty pound cat as it prowled the grounds near their properties situated off the Western Highway. It is uncertain what led to the deadly encounter but officials from the Forestry Department and the Belize Zoo were quick to respond to the animal’s capture. With help from Omar Figueroa, a jaguar researcher who also works in the area, Max was lured and caught several meters away.

Omar Figueroa, Jaguar Researcher

“I did go out there and we scouted the area and we started to see signs of the cat. Signs that in fact the jaguar had not moved beyond a few hundred meters from where it was held captive.”

Max was held here in a reinforced enclosure where he was being reared and studied by the Fosters. According to Richard, they were making preparations to film the big cat for National Geographic Explorer when the incident took place. He was also present during the recapture of the jaguar.

Richard Foster, Natural History Filmmaker

“Omar Figueroa, who is the jaguar researcher here, came over with his research traps where he catches jaguars in a snare system. There’s a radio attached to it so he knows immediately when it’s being sprung. We set all this stuff up during the early evening and waited in the house. I spent time on the roof trying to call the cat in because he knows me very well and at about I guess nine-thirty Omar had a positive signal on one of his traps and came up here and found a trap at the back behind Max’s, that’s the jaguar’s name, cage in the back there and he went down there and he found the cat in the snare hooked by the foot.”

The cat was then sedated and handed over to members of the Forestry Department who unsuccessfully attempted to encage him.

Omar Figueroa

“A cage trap was used and this is part of, I believe the Belize Zoo and Forestry Department’s response to when you have jaguars that are predating livestock. They go and they set traps but [uhm] it was just my opinion that given the circumstances with this cat and how weary it was about its surroundings that it probably would not enter one of these caged traps.”

Max was later placed into this cage, a larger pen where he was put to sleep by a lethal injection.

“This guy had to be put down to rest due to his actions that he had committed of taking human life hence you can see here.”

Richard Foster

“This is where he was injected in to the heart?”

“This where he was injected into the heart with a lethal injection.”

Richard Foster

“Jaguars are rare enough in Belize as it is and they are an important part of the tourist industry and it’s very sad to have to put down a cat like this but after this incident they didn’t really have an awful lot of options because there might be a public outcry about it.”

It is believed that Max had attacked Cullerton’s dogs after escaping from his cage when a tree fell unto it during the hurricane. On Monday night Cullerton and Foster surveyed the area in search of the jaguar but to no avail. It is also alleged that the cat subsequently attacked Cullerton when he tried to break up the confrontation between both animals.

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