Mancha

 One day I was in a small Indian village named Lahablanca. It is upriver on the Chucunaque about two hours north of Yaviza, near the point where the Tupisa River flows into the Chucunaque. Manene is the first of three Chocó villages on the Tupisa. As I stood with the tourists talking with the Chocó women, a commotion arose in the direction of the edge of the village. One of the men, who had just arrived back to the village, had killed a jaguar while hunting. When he reached the animal it was still alive and breathing and he noticed a movement in the stomach. He cut her open with his machete and pulled out a cub that was about to be born.
     The Indian came into town and stuck this newborn animal in my arms; the cub was less than two hours old and still wet from the birth.
     That is how I acquired my jaguar, Mancha (the name sounds like a beautiful romantic name for such a majestic animal. Translation: Spot). Mancha lived with us for several years, until the time that I left Panama. Of all of our exotic pets she was by far the best. What an attraction: a tame jaguar that a tourist could pet while having their photograph taken.
     When I had Lil' Critters in Michigan I traded a Macaw to a zoo for a seven day old female African Lion (I named her Tasha). I have always had an affinity for large cats, and grew up in a house where our pet Siamese cat 'Ming Toy' had well over 100 kittens during my childhood, eight to ten at a time. Tasha lived with me for over two years in the basement of the farm house on North Territorial Road, during which time she grew to become a 350 pound African Lion. She made a great pet, and needless to say, you don't own a lion for two years during college and not have some stories to tell about the experience.
     I found the lion to be very predictable, and in all the time I had her she never scratched, or bit, or drew blood from anyone, even though Tasha was around people all the time. The lion ate 18 pounds of food a day, a mixture of Science Diet and Zu-Preem, with vitamins and minerals mixed in. She grew from a baby cub into a 350 pound lion over the span of a couple of years. This created a hefty food bill for a college kid to have to pay each week to be able to care for this large cat. So, I would rent Tasha out for corporate promotions at a rate of $250.00 per half hour. Because of this Tasha became accustomed to being around large groups of people.
     The Jaguar was much more unpredictable, very much of a one owner kind of animal (actually two owners, Diego and me). I am sure that a large part of the jaguar's attitude was that she was still essentially living in her own native environment, while the lion lived in a farm house far away from her natural habitat. Because of this we did not allow anyone around her unless either Diego or I were present.
     Both of these large cats were very young when I got them, and they both went through that playful kitten stage that a normal house cat goes through. Even though the lion was much larger she never used her claws or teeth while playing. The Jaguar played as well, but much rougher, and it was not uncommon to come out of a play session with her with a few scratches and some teeth marks. I never felt that her attitude was malicious or that Mancha ever intended to hurt us, but rather she did not know her own strength in relation to us. The lion had a much better sense as to just how rough it could get with us while playing.
     Initially Mancha drank milk from a baby bottle, but as she grew her feeding became a real challenge. The resources didn’t exist in the Darien that I had available to me for Tasha in Ann Arbor. We brought canned dog food from the Canal Zone Commissary, and would also buy up all of the meat scraps whenever they slaughtered a cow in the Mercadeo, for the sale of beef in El Real. She also ate small fish that Diego would fish out of the river in front of our house.
     Security for Mancha was very important, not only protecting her from other people, but also protecting other people and animals (especially small dogs) from her. The Jaguar had a thick collar, attached to a long chain link leash, that was attached to a sliding ring and then to a stout metal cable that ran from a large tree beside the main house, to the front edge of the animal house. The total distance of the run was about fifty feet. We then fenced in this entire area with a low wooden fence. It gave her the freedom to move about over a large area, but still provided some security for her, as well as protected other small animals and children that might have happened by. I feel that we were very fortunate that in the years we had her we never had an incident.