Cayo Scoop! The Ecology of Cayo Culture

Lucky Boy will be fine.  The rescued jaguar is recovering at the Belize Zoo.  Looks like Junior Buddy will have a new friend.  Tonight's news at 6:30pm will feature Lucky Boy.

"The Black Jaguar formerly known as Bosh, now called Lucky Boy - who was saved from certain death a little over a week ago is reported to be making a recovery at the Belize Zoo.  

According to the Zoo's facebook page, he's eating well on a special restorative diet, and is friendly with his caregivers, eating directly from their hands.  He is described as a surprisingly calm and easy going jaguar."

The Belize Zoo's Jaguar Encounter gets a good write up.  Junior Buddy is world famous.

"The next day we went to the Belize Zoo and tried out their Jaguar Encounter.  If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend it.  It’s $50 USD per cage, and a cage can hold 1-5 people.  C.L. and I were the only ones in our cage plus a jaguar handler.  And the whole experience probably lasted about 10 minutes.

The Belize Zoo has around 14 jaguars…most of them they’ve saved from farmers that had targeted them after losing livestock.  Only three of them are “on display.”  And you can only get up close and personal with one…his name is Junior Buddy.  He was raised in the zoo and is somewhat tame from a wild animal perspective.  But they’re still not crazy enough to let you loose in a jaguar enclosure.  So they have a nice little cage inside his spacious pen that you get to sit in, and he gets to come check YOU out."

This is a well written article, and it has the history of the Belize Zoo in it.  That's Junior the Jaguar!  There's a video too.

"The Belize Zoo, tagged as 'the best little zoo in the world,' is very unique and different from any other you’ve been to.  It was started in 1983 after a film crew finished a documentary, and had no where to leave the star animals of its show, now tamed they could not be returned to the wild.  One of the crew’s staff stayed behind to care for the animals and the rest is history.  It receives no funding from the government, it only houses native animals, and it has never taken an animal from the wild.  The zoo sits on 29 acres of natural habitat only changed by gravel trails and the animal’s enclosures.  It houses more than 150 animals and more than 45 different species."

Great account of going to the Belize zoo, the best little zoo in the world.  

"I read alot of great stuff about the Belize Zoo. I'm not a fan of animals in cages or enclosures. But I will always take time to support financially, a program that is actually making a difference in a country. Zoos around the world are great places to educate people about conservation and get them up close to animals. In poor countries it's the best way to convince locals that saving the animals is best for their country in the long run. Sometimes it takes seeing a wild animal up close to capture your heart for the rest of your life."