Roaming Jaguars on Boom/Hattieville Road Killing Out People’s Livestock

News Five was called out to a residence on the Boom/Hattieville Road today, where a distraught pet owner told us that in the predawn hours of Tuesday, she heard a jaguar attack one of their sheep and looked out in time to see the predator run off after it had killed the sheep. Reina Garcia said she is distraught because the attack has left her now with two suckling calves to bottle-feed, but she is also concerned for the safety of her young children.

Reina Garcia

Reina Garcia, Losing Sheep to Jaguars

“I fraid concerning mi dog them and my pikni. I have babies. Them keep around and it happens like – six months ago ih ker my dog and eena November ih ker my sheep and yesterday morning ih ker my sheep and ih left two babies and I have to feed them with babba and when I hear the noise that I ketch ah with my sheep I open the window and he run. Soh we need help concerning this jaguar because ih di frighten lotta people by Bacab area and like that. Ih nuh ker the sheep because ih hear the noise.”

Marion Ali

“So you found your sheep dead?”

Reina Garcia

“Yes, dead. And ih left. Ih can’t ker it because I come out the same time. He’s coming way at the front of the house, so have to fraid fi the pikni them, you see.”

We reached out the Forest Department, which had just gotten notice of the incident and which informed us that they will deploy a team of field officers to the location on Thursday to assess the situation and conduct interviews, after which they will decide what steps they will take to remedy the problem.