Jaguar Paraded at Olympic Torch Ceremony Shot Dead

[xSilverPhinx]

This is infuriating. They should just cancel the Olympic games in Brazil altogether, we're in no condition to host such an event. 

In the 1900 Olympic games, live pigeon shooting was an official event. In 2014, authorities around Sochi, Russia, were criticized for rounding up stray dogs. And now, a jaguar from the Amazon was killed after it was featured in a torch ceremony for this summer's games in Brazil.

Rest of the NatGeo article here.

[Recusant]

It sounds as if they had the cat drugged when it was used in the ceremony, and even then their protocol for handling it wasn't effective enough to stop it getting away from them. Leaving aside for a moment the somewhat appalling idea that it would be cool to use a jaguar as an ornament for the ceremony, somebody must have been extremely incompetent.

[xSilverPhinx]

It sounds as if they had the cat drugged when it was used in the ceremony, and even then their protocol for handling it wasn't effective enough to stop it getting away from them. Leaving aside for a moment the somewhat appalling idea that it would be cool to use a jaguar as an ornament for the ceremony, somebody must have been extremely incompetent.

Extremely incompetent is right. And what a brilliant idea it was to use a jaguar as a mascot. It's a wild animal for -censored- sake, where's the respect?

It would all be a joke if it wasn't so sad.

[Pasta Chick]

People seem to be increasingly losing track of the fact that wild animals are WILD.

There was a big to-do recently over Yellowstone humanely euthanizing a buffalo calf. They could not get the herd to accept him after a pair of tourists put him their car and brought him to a ranger station because "it was too cold outside".

[Ecurb Noselrub]

Brazil is having a very bad year.  I hope the Olympics go OK, but I doubt it.

[Steeler]

People seem to be increasingly losing track of the fact that wild animals are WILD.

There was a big to-do recently over Yellowstone humanely euthanizing a buffalo calf. They could not get the herd to accept him after a pair of tourists put him their car and brought him to a ranger station because "it was too cold outside".

Really?! Man, there are some amazingly stupid people out there.

[xSilverPhinx]

Brazil is having a very bad year.  I hope the Olympics go OK, but I doubt it.

I hope so too, but really doubt it.

[Pasta Chick]

People seem to be increasingly losing track of the fact that wild animals are WILD.

There was a big to-do recently over Yellowstone humanely euthanizing a buffalo calf. They could not get the herd to accept him after a pair of tourists put him their car and brought him to a ranger station because "it was too cold outside".

Really?! Man, there are some amazingly stupid people out there.

Yup.

And it was followed up by bleeding heart ARAs threatening to boycott Yellowstone because "they could have sent him to a sanctuary!"

Because, you know, all those buffalo rescue sanctuaries out there...

[Sandra Craft]

People seem to be increasingly losing track of the fact that wild animals are WILD.

There was a big to-do recently over Yellowstone humanely euthanizing a buffalo calf. They could not get the herd to accept him after a pair of tourists put him their car and brought him to a ranger station because "it was too cold outside".

Really?! Man, there are some amazingly stupid people out there.

Yup.

And it was followed up by bleeding heart ARAs threatening to boycott Yellowstone because "they could have sent him to a sanctuary!"

Because, you know, all those buffalo rescue sanctuaries out there...

That's one of the things that really got to me (other than the whole putting a calf in your car and driving off with it) -- Yellowstone explained many times, in great detail, why euthanizing the calf was the only option they had but people kept right on parroting the same "why didn't they do this or that?" lines.  If they had spent 5 minutes to read up on it, they would have known why but I suppose then they would have lost the fun of being morally righteous on social media.

[Sandra Craft]

Brazil is having a very bad year.  I hope the Olympics go OK, but I doubt it.

I hope so too, but really doubt it.

Could the Olympic committee have stepped in and postponed the games until a better host was found?  I know this would be a hugely unpopular decision, but from what I've been reading Brazil not only isn't ready but stands to lose from doing this.

[xSilverPhinx]

Brazil is having a very bad year.  I hope the Olympics go OK, but I doubt it.

I hope so too, but really doubt it.

Could the Olympic committee have stepped in and postponed the games until a better host was found?  I know this would be a hugely unpopular decision, but from what I've been reading Brazil not only isn't ready but stands to lose from doing this.

It would be the right thing to do, unpopular or not.

The idea I get is that the general populace doesn't care enough about the Olympics for the decision to be unpopular, it's mostly the government that's pushing for Brazil to host the games.   

[Sandra Craft]

It would be the right thing to do, unpopular or not.

The idea I get is that the general populace doesn't care enough about the Olympics for the decision to be unpopular, it's mostly the government that's pushing for Brazil to host the games.

There'd also be a huge amount of push back from the athletes, and anyone at all who had a financial interest in the games going forward come what may.  I imagine that's an awful lot of people, corporations and even other countries.

[Pasta Chick]

People seem to be increasingly losing track of the fact that wild animals are WILD.

There was a big to-do recently over Yellowstone humanely euthanizing a buffalo calf. They could not get the herd to accept him after a pair of tourists put him their car and brought him to a ranger station because "it was too cold outside".

Really?! Man, there are some amazingly stupid people out there.

Yup.

And it was followed up by bleeding heart ARAs threatening to boycott Yellowstone because "they could have sent him to a sanctuary!"

Because, you know, all those buffalo rescue sanctuaries out there...

That's one of the things that really got to me (other than the whole putting a calf in your car and driving off with it) -- Yellowstone explained many times, in great detail, why euthanizing the calf was the only option they had but people kept right on parroting the same "why didn't they do this or that?" lines.  If they had spent 5 minutes to read up on it, they would have known why but I suppose then they would have lost the fun of being morally righteous on social media.

Same. Mad props to Yellowstone's Facebook PR dept for patiently dealing with all that bullshit, though.

Also struggling with the irony of attempting to defend animals by boycotting Yellowstone.

Wild animals are in fact wild, and don't generally take well to living in captivity or directly among humans. This is part of why I brought the injured sparrow I found a couple winters ago to Tufts knowing she would likely be euthanized (she was). I had her flying and eating, but she was so terrified just seeing us moving around in the house she was going to re-injure herself on her cage.

And so to this poor jaguar. If you have to drug up an animal to safely stand near him, it's a good indication you shouldn't be doing what you're about to do. Big cats in particular have strong predatory drive and really aren't safe to hang out with. Even animals seen in movies are generally juveniles, and generally only allowed to film a take-down scene a couple times before they're done. Maturity and practice can make them deadly, and the "kill switch" can flip on at any moment.