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Man Eating Jaguar On the Loose! Cat Killed One Man

Amidst all the stories of property damage and loss produced by Hurricane Richard, an even more incredible story emerged this morning - that a jaguar killed a man in the La Democracia Area.

The first report was that the jaguar had escaped from the Belize Zoo when that facility was clobbered by the Hurricane. But that's not what happened; all the zoo's jaguars were locked up and accounted for.

It turns out that the jaguar escaped from Richard Foster who lives a mile down the road from the Belize Zoo. Foster is an internationally renowned nature photographer who keeps a captive jaguar as a photographic subject.

He's been keeping jaguars for decades - but when Hurricane Richard raked through that area a tree fell on the jaguar's cage and it got loose. And now the big cat has killed someone and it is an unprecedented, incredible story.

Monica Bodden has been following it since morning; she has this report:

Monica Bodden, Reporting
The jaguar is the third largest cat in the world and the largest and most powerful in the Western Hemisphere. It's not a family's average pet and with its exceptionally powerful bite, this spotted cat leaves few hopes of survival. Last night that fact was proved at mile28 and a half on the Western Highway - the home of 47 year old Bruce Colleton. He was fatally attacked by his neighbor's pet jaguar who had escaped.

This morning his body was found by his neighbor and taken away in the bed of this police pickup truck to the City's morgue.

Brian Collerton, Father of Deceased
"Apparently Bruce was visiting at the Fosters, our neighbors last night and left about dusk to go home and body wasn't found until this morning when Richard Foster and another close friend were looking for him."

Owner of the jaguar, nature photographer Richard Foster told us the animal escaped on Sunday night during Hurricane Richard. He said a tree fell on his cage causing a hole which he escaped through. He was last seen last night - lurking in front of Cullerton's yard.

Richard Foster, owner of jaguar
"Last night about 10 o' clock I heard the dogs barking at the back of Bruce's house and I went down the road and I saw the jaguar sitting in the road looking at the dogs and I call his name and he saw my light and he turned and started to run up the road towards me because he knows me. So I made my speedy return to the house here and he came into the car park and he walked right through here, right where we are standing here. At that time I didn't know whether he had attacked Bruce by then, or if it happened later in the evening. I have no idea."

Bruce was found lying a couple yards away from his gate with fatal bites to his neck, head and hand. No one knows what really happened. But as you can see the tracks of this mature male were still visible.

Richard Foster, owner of jaguar
"It wasn't until the next morning when a friend of his came by at the house and couldn't get a response. He came up here and asked if I had seen Bruce and I said 'no' and that he went back last night after looking at the internet here and we haven't heard from him, and I know that the dogs were barking at the jaguar and that he came up here. And so we went and went up to the gate and we saw that the gate was still locked. It was strange. Then we noticed the white thing on the side, his sneaker - it had blood on it and we looked further over in that direction and Bruce was lying around the corner. It's just the most awful thing that has happened."

Max - as the Foster's pet jaguar is affectionately known is 3 years old. He had been their pet for the past 1 and a half years. And over that period he had never shown any signs of aggression towards humans. According to the Foster's something like this is out of the ordinary for a jaguar.

Richard Foster, owner of jaguar
"There is no record ever of a wild jaguar ever attacking a human being. That's only cats that are in captivity that have no fear of man, keepers and zoos and things, that do the wrong thing but this kind of thing can happen. We just don't know what the circumstances were down there. The little dog of Bruce's could have attacked the jaguar, got his aggression going and then one thing led to another. But normally if I see the jaguar out here I would have a fire extinguisher and if it came too close I would use it and that would keep him back. Many years we put jaguars in big enclosures and we've been with them for weeks and weeks, fifteen feet away and they don't attack you. It's just the jaguar's nature, they are not aggressive to human beings."

Monica Bodden
"At no point was there any aggression towards you or your family?"

Richard Foster, owner of jaguar
"No, but jaguars are jaguars; they are predators in the wild and I would never put my finger towards them, that would be asking for trouble because he might just grab it playing, they are so powerful and they have such big claws and teeth. You just don't take that risk."

Bruce Colleton was a diesel mechanic who moved to Belize some 18 years ago. He has been living at mile 28 and a half on the Western Highway for the past 15 years. Bruce who suffered from Diabetes was schedule to return to his home in the US today - but never made it.

Brian Collerton, Father of Decease
"He came down from the states back in 1992 and he did a lot of cave diving, spelunking and river rafting and he was an outdoor type and thoroughly enjoyed single life in Belize for all these years and was leaving under protest but he realized he needed to get more help than he could down here."

For this dad who has lost his son to an alpha predator believing is not easy.

Brian Collerton, Father of Decease
"I think that the terms of the killing is less important than the fact that you've lost a son and I think I probably had many of the same feelings of the parents of the south side have when their children die from gun violence: it's a shock, you first don't want to believe it. But facts are facts and you live with it and it's still tough to imagine that he was within days of returning to the states after 18 years in Belize to get medical attention and now to have this happen�."

Richard Foster, owner of jaguar
"It is the biggest nightmare that we have ever experienced in our lives. It will take a long time to get over this."

Meanwhile a trap is set for Max - hoping he returns today.

Richard Foster, owner of jaguar
"I think without a doubt he is probably right close here now and as the dark comes in he will get bold and he will come out here or he may get back to where they set a trap for him right down there by the enclosure. There is a narrow place and Mr. Figueroa, the researcher and trapper here is doing very good research on jaguars and this beautiful animal in our country. He has set a trap with a little radio connection that if the cart springs it we'll know and then we will go down there and dart him quickly and get him inside."

Monica Bodden
"What are you guys planning to do with this jaguar? You think because it has tasted human blood it might....."

Richard Foster, owner of jaguar
"Not at all, he doesn't know he has done anything wrong. It was a circumstance that we put in him in really, we have to say that and Bruce should not have walked down there maybe at night."

Channel 7

Pet jaguars are always a mistake.
I've know several people that got them as cute kittens and where maimed after they grew up.
You just cant be friends with a jungle cat.

and no US Embassy warning about ANGRY VILLAGERS burning down ex-pat homes in Toldeo? Man, get it right dudes!

Jaguar is captured, tourists can safely come to Belize again:

At Large Jaguar Euthanized


http://sanpedrosun.blogspot.com/2010/10/at-large-jaguar-euthanized.html

Richard and Carol Foster, who were caring for the cougar when it escaped, have contacted press sources to clarify their operation. They are not an animal rescue operation, as was originally reported. They are "wildlife/conservation filmmakers."

At Large Jaguar Euthanized

In a bizarre twist of fate, and to date the only fatality related to Hurricane Richard, was the death of American Ex-pat Bruce Cullerton when sometime on Monday a contained jaguar escaped from his hurricane damaged enclosure and lethally mauled Cullerton.

The grim accident took place near the Belize Zoo on the Western Highway after the area took a direct hit from the hurricane Sunday night. Professional wildlife photographers and owners of the animal compound where the jaguar was contained, Richard and Carol Foster, reported that their property had sustained a lot of damage and that the jaguar had escaped. Reports speculate that their neighbor Cullerton may have been trying to rescue his dog from the jaguar attack when he lost his life.

Tuesday afternoon news reports were rampant about the attack and Belize Wildlife Department (BFD) Officials, along with law enforcement, Belize Zoo personnel and local animal experts descended on the area to determine their next move. In a phone interview with Wildlife Officer Rasheda Sampson, Sampson told The SPSUN that last night a team of highly trained animal experts, including the BFD, set up a series of snare traps with sensors along the Foster and Cullerton’s property. At approximately 9:30pm they successfully snared the animal within feet of its home enclosure and after positive identification the jaguar was euthanized.


For the complete story read The San Pedro Sun tomorrow.

Escaped jaguar kills U.S. man in Belize... as he tries to protect his dogs from attack

By Daily Mail Reporter

Victim: Bruce Cullerton, killed by a jaguar after the animal's cage was damaged in Hurricane Richard in Belize

"Max" The Killer Cat Captured And Put Down

When we left you last night, jaguar expert Omar Figueroa had set four leg-hold traps for the killer jaguar called Max. The traps were concentrated within 500 yards of the runaway cat's home at the residence of Richard Foster near mile 28 and a half on the Western highway. The is adjacent to the home of 47 year old Bruce Cullerton - who was killed by the jaguar on Monday night.

And by 9:30 - Max had been snared - Monica Bodden picks up the story from there:

At 10:30 last night the HEALTHY male jaguar called Max was trapped in one of Omar Figueroa's traps:

Omar Figueroa, Conservation Biologist
"Around 9:35 pm the trap was triggered and at that moment we knew we had it because I didn't see any signs of another cat in the area and so I move in with my team. When we got there, there were folks from the Forest Department and folks from the Belize Zoo at the Fosters' so we all went back to check on the trap and it was a hit. It was the target cat, we identified it. As you know jaguars have unique rosette patterns - no 2 jaguars have the same pattern. So immediately we knew that was the cat. And then like you do with any cat in a trap you immediately have to move in and immobilize the cat, so that's what we did. We had the veterinarian on site and we had the zoo staff on site, we immobilize the cat, we knock him down. I think about 10:15-10:20 the cat was down he was stable. The cat was a very healthy cat. It probably weigh about 130 pounds."

After he was captured - a vet was brought in to put him down - a sad moment for the big cat's owner Richard Foster:

Richard Foster, owner of jaguar
"The Forestry Department had a serious talk about it and they decided that it would be better for the country and better publicity for everyone if this cat was put down. we are sad because this is a beautiful and you cannot blame the cat for doing this it is what we do as human beings to these animals is a result of it, so in all it is a very sad situation."

Sad but absolutely necessary says Figueroa

Omar Figueroa, Conservation Biologist
"When an animal crosses a certain line, I mean it comes a time when you have to make some hard decisions and its not to say that it was the cat's fault, I think it's wrong to start pointing fingers and say whose fault it was. But it's hard to really say what happen, there was a dog that got injured as well and so it's kind of difficult to really put the pieces together. It is a serious tragedy unfortunately but I believe that first and foremost humans safety has got to be safe guarded. In all the research we do, in all our efforts we are driven first and foremost by human safety. When something comes that compromises that then we need to act in the best interest of human safety. Its just something had to be done to relief fears that people might have naturally and so I believe the Forest Department did the right decision."

Now this beleaguered owner is concerned about the reputation of jaguars with al the international media buzz this one has generated

Richard Foster, owner of jaguar
"Many of these cats that are in captivity especially in Belize are the ones that are cattle killers and there were trap and brought and kept in the Belize Zoo. It would be ridiculous and a very dangerous thing to do to release a jaguar into the wild. No one will never do anything like that and we would certainly wouldn't do that and this cat escape purely because of ferocious hurricane that came through."

Conservation biologist Figueroa says keeping predatory cats as pets is always an iffy proposition.

Omar Figueroa, Conservation Biologist
"At the zoo they have very capable and competent staff there, they have wonderful education programs to handle these type of cats you need the train people like the folks at the zoo and I also must say that I believe that the Foster's were capable as well, they have a history of working with these animals in the wild, in captivity. They have done some remarkable documentaries and like I said it was a freak accident with a tree falling on what was otherwise a safe and secure structure to hold in this cat. But something needs to be made clear here this is not a wild cat. A wild cat is a completely different cat, a wild cat behaves differently a wild cat would never attack a human. IF a wild cat would attack human I would be here standing with you. There are days in the forest when I walk along trails and when I walk back I see jaguar tracks on top of my tracks. If wild jaguars were attacking humans the entire Americas would be a different place. That doesn't happen."

"Well this jaguar had to be out down to rest due to his actions that he had committed of taking a human life hence you can see here. This is where he was injected into the heart with a lethal injection."

Figueroa - who is also a senator is completing his doctoral thesis on jaguars in Central Belize. The forestry department took out the dead jaguar this morning. We note that the story has picked up major traction in international media with the inevitable misrepresentations and exaggerated portrayals of jaguars running wild in central Belize. The Belize Zoo took the brunt of it with the US Embassy issuing a visitors' advisory stating that the jaguar had escaped from the Belize Zoo - which it did not. Foster's home is a mile away from the zoo.

Channel 7

Max, the Killer Jaguar, captured and euthanized

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. Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.