RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – A jaguar featured at an Olympic torch ceremony was shot dead by a soldier shortly after the event in the Brazilian Amazon city of Manaus as the animal escaped from its handlers, an army statement said.
The jaguar was killed on Monday at a zoo attached to a military training center when a soldier fired a single pistol shot after the animal, despite being tranquilized, approached the soldier, the army said.
“We made a mistake in permitting the Olympic torch, a symbol of peace and unity, to be exhibited alongside a chained wild animal. This image goes against our beliefs and our values,” the local organizing committee Rio 2016 said in a statement, adding: “We guarantee that there will be no more such incidents at Rio 2016.”
A smiling yellow jaguar known as Ginga is the mascot of the Brazilian Olympic team.
The shooting caused uproar among animal rights groups, which questioned why the animal was involved in the Olympic event.
“When will people (and institutions) stop with this sick need to show power and control by confining, taming and showcasing wild animals?” the Rio de Janeiro-based animal rights group Animal Freedom Union said on its Facebook page.
The jaguar is a nearly threatened species that has already been wiped out in Uruguay and El Salvador, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Why bring the Jaguar into this in the first place? Between the athletes being mugged, the collapse of Brazilian economy, and the hysteria surrounding the Zika bullshit, can the Rio Olympics become any more tainted?
It is a shame the animal had to die for basically no reason.
Hopefully they gave it to the North Korean Olympic team so they could eat it.
Or to the Chinese team or South Korea.
I am saddened by this as we have cats and I love all cats. There is Bengal tiger down the street from us at a sanctuary over 400lbs in size. They also had a Jaguar.
Do you prefer garlic or chili powder as the base for your rub?
Wildly symbolic of the Brazilian Olympics, and Brazil as a whole!
The poor animal is probably better off considering how animals are treated in zoos. The one who shot it should take its place.
They should have used a Model 3.
Brazilians love to make jokes about Portugueses portraying them as dumb, when in fact it is the other way around. Worst, they are unique in the dumbness factor.
Hey there is a dead jaguar in one of the Denver airport murals.