BRASILIA // A jaguar that was paraded at the Olympic torch relay ceremony in Brazil was killed shortly after the event when it escaped its handlers, the Brazilian military said on Tuesday.
Juma the jaguar was shot dead in the northern city of Manaus on Monday soon after it was photographed with the torch passing by, the army’s press office said.
The Olympic torch is travelling throughout Brazil leading up to the August 5 opening ceremony.
“It escaped and ran off as it was being moved from one area to another in the zoo,” said Col Luiz Gustavo Evelyn, whose unit is deployed in the region.
When the big cat tried to attack a soldier sent to help recapture it, handlers shot the animal with four tranquilliser darts. That failed to stop it, and when it turned on a veterinarian, soldiers were forced to use bullets and shot the animal in the head with a pistol.
“To protect the handler, it was sacrificed,” said Col Evelyn.
The organising committee of the Rio Games said it was “very unhappy” about the jaguar’s killing. “We were wrong to allow the Olympic Torch, a symbol of peace and of the union among the peoples to be displayed alongside a wild animal in chains,” the local Olympic organising committee said on it Facebook page.
“This scene is contrary to our beliefs and values. We are very sad with the outcome that happened after the passing of the torch. We guarantee that we will not see more situations like this in the Rio 2016 Games.”
Ibama, Brazil’s environmental protection agency, told the Amazonia Real news agency it did not authorise Juma’s presence at the event.
Juma, a 17-year-old female, had been raised since it was a cub and was kept in the military-run zoo in the Amazon with half a dozen siblings.
Just before its escape, it and another jaguar had been exhibited as the Olympic torch crossing Brazil passed through the zoo on its way to Rio de Janeiro.
“Unfortunately, this occurred the day of the torch’s passage,” Col Evelyn said. “The animal participated in the event because the torch went through the zoo.”
He added that Juma was not a wild animal, having been raised in captivity, and called its death “very sad”.
The military has opened an investigation into the incident.
* Agence France-Presse and Associated Press
