Forest Department: Viral Jaguar Cub Incident Violated Wildlife Protection Act

The Belize Forest Department has confirmed it is investigating the viral jaguar cub encounter in Mountain Pine Ridge. The Department says the actions captured on video violate the Wildlife Protection Act, Chapter 220 of the Laws of Belize.

The Department said the incident came to its attention through a social media post and accompanying video showing a group of individuals approaching a female jaguar and her cub along a logging track within the reserve. According to the Department, one individual was seen following the cub and touching it, while another expressed a desire to hold the animal. The mother jaguar had retreated into nearby vegetation.

“The Forest Department has launched an investigation into the incident and is gathering all available evidence to pursue the appropriate enforcement action under the Wildlife Protection Act,” the release states.

Officials pointed to the Act’s definition of “to hunt”, which includes any attempt “to kill, take, or molest by any method” any species of wildlife. The law specifically prohibits hunting protected species, immature wildlife, or a female accompanied by its young, all three of which apply in this case.

The Department also stressed the danger the men placed themselves in. “Female jaguars are highly protective of their young and may respond aggressively when they perceive a threat,” the release warns, adding that wildlife should never be approached, touched, handled, cornered, or separated from their young.

The statement echoes concerns raised earlier in the week by Dr. Celso Poot, Managing Director of the Belize Zoo, who told News Five that the cub, estimated to be two weeks to a month old, was put through severe stress during the encounter. Poot explained that wildlife professionals follow strict protocols specifically to avoid this kind of contact, monitoring young animals through cameras rather than handling them directly. He also warned of “capture myopathy,” a stress response in which an animal’s muscles lock up, sometimes fatally, and said the long-term physiological toll of the stress hormones released during the encounter cannot be ruled out for this cub. Poot separately dispelled the common belief that a mother jaguar will abandon a cub simply because it was touched by a human, though he noted a human’s scent replacing the mother’s could still put the cub at risk.

Leslie Penner, a friend who was present during the encounter, has since come forward with his own account, identifying the man who touched the cub as Ruben Stoll, one of two brothers on the birdwatching trip he was leading. Penner said he attempted to intervene by positioning the vehicle door between Ruben and the cub, but the cub moved off the trail before he realized contact had been made. He described the act as “unnecessary” and “reckless,” creating a potential human-wildlife conflict, but said Ruben did not grasp the danger of touching the cub in the moment and would not have done so otherwise. Penner also pointed to the brothers’ history of conservation work in Belize, including an arrangement with local chicken farmers to reimburse losses caused by hawks in exchange for the hawks’ protection.