A jaguar trotted out for the Olympic torch's passage through Brazil's Amazon was killed shortly afterward when it escaped its handlers and threatened a vet, the Brazilian military said Tuesday. The feline - whose species is the symbol of the Amazon - was shot dead in the northern city of Manaus on Monday soon after it was photographed with the torch passing by. An attempt to use tranquilliser darts on it failed.
"It escaped and ran off as it was being moved from one area to another in the zoo," said Colonel Luiz Gustavo Evelyn, whose unit is deployed in the region. He explained that, once located, the jaguar was hit by four tranquilliser darts. But they did not slow it down and it turned on a veterinarian, forcing the soldiers to use bullets.
"To protect the handler, it was sacrificed," Evelyn said. The organising committee of the Rio Games said it was "very unhappy" about the jaguar's killing. "We erred by allowing the Olympic torch, a symbol of peace and union among people, to be displayed next to a chained wild animal. That contradicts our beliefs and values," the committee said in a statement to AFP. "We are very unhappy with the outcome... We guarantee there won't be more situations like this in the 2016 Rio Games."
The animal, a 17-year-old female named Juma, 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, which is hosting the Games due to start August 5.