Zoo mourns over the loss of its geriatric jaguar

Posted by Gigi Allianic, Communication

Woodland Park Zoo takes care of the loss of its only female Jaguar, Nayla. The big cat was humanly killed due to age -related degenerative decline in mobility.

Nayla in 2021. Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo

Nayla, who celebrated her 19 -year birthday last week, was born at the Akron Zoo in Ohio and lived in Woodland Park Zoo since 2006. The expected Jaguars in Zoos are 18 years old.

Nayla in 2019. Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo

As a geriatric large cat, Nayla’s welfare and chronic medical conditions, including degenerative joint disease, have been carefully controlled by her animal care providers and veterinary staff. This summer, Nayla had an episode of neurological deficit that caused a serious head pitch and loss of balance. After diagnostics, including an MRI and treatment, Nayla returned from this neurological episode and returned to the habitat, Jaguar Cove.

“Recently, Nayla began to show increased weakness and coordination of her back, which caused her to have difficulty jumping, running and turning. Unfortunately, despite changes in her treatment and therapy, she continued to have challenges with her mobility,” Dr. Misty Garcia, associate veterinarian at Woodland Park Zoo. “Although this decision is difficult for the team to make, Nayla’s case emphasizes the inauguration of animal care to provide excellent animal welfare.”

Nayla in 2022. Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo

Nayla in 2020. Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo

In 2013, Nayla gave birth to three cubs, the only jaguars born in Jaguar Cove since it opened in 2003. ”It was the fairly adventure that then Nayla raises and continued with her tension -seeking cubs that jumped along the forest floor, the luggage compartment in the abandoned tree or itched their way up the large cliff. Nake, and it was a way a way up the big cliff very good mother, ”said Shawn Pedersen, an expensive curator at Woodland Park Zoo. Her kids continue to thrive on other accredited zoos.

Nayla and Cubs in 2013. Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo

Nayla and Cubs in 2013. Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo

As a standard procedure, the Zoo’s Animal Health Team performs a postmortem exam to further diagnose factors that may have contributed to Nayla’s death.

For thousands of years, Jaguars have symbolized the power of the forest and nature for the natives in its reach of the Mayans, the Incas and the Aztecs of the Guaraní Indians in Gran Chaco. The word Jaguar itself is derived from a language spoken in the heart of Amazonia. The Guaraní word “Yaguara” means “the animal that kills with a jump.”

“Over the course of almost two decades of living in Woodland Park Zoo, Nayla portrayed the strength and power of Jaguars. She played like a kitten with a series of enrichment offers as a rolling in large bunker with cat mint or simply napped in her habitats like fucking. Keer by Woodland.

Nayla in 2021. Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo

Visitors can discover the world of Jaguar by visiting Jaguar Cove, where the zoo’s remaining Jaguar, a 7-year-old man named Fitz, lives. Jaguars are lonely animals that choose to hunt and live alone except for the mating season and mothers raising cubs.

Zoo -officials are working with the Jaguar’s survival plan to explore the prospect of bringing another female Jaguar to the zoo in the near future. The species survival plan is a cooperative breeding program across accredited zoos to help ensure a healthy, self -supporting population of the species.

Jaguar is the third largest cat in the Felid family after tigers and lions and the biggest cat in North America. An almost endangered species under the IUCN Red list, wild jaguars need plenty of room to roam. Providing habitat connection so that cats can surely travel to find peers and refuge from the effects of climate change is critical. Woodland Park Zoo supports the Northern Jaguar project, which works to protect priority habitats and identify wildlife corridors for jaguars who live in US-Mexico Borderlands.