This is the moment thugs egg on a pack of hunting dogs to attack and slowly kill a bloodied endangered jaguar.
The incident was filmed in the eastern Panamanian province of Darien and the local authorities have reportedly identified three suspects.
WARNING: GRAPHIC DISTRESSING CONTENT
After the video was widely circulated, the country’s Ministry of Environment launched an investigation into the death of the jaguar (Panthera onca).
According to reports, the big cat is considered ‘near threatened’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and ‘endangered’ by the Panamanian authorities.
In the shocking footage, a pack of dogs is seen chasing the jaguar through a wooded area before one of them manages to pin the big cat on the ground.
At one point, at least eight dogs are biting the jaguar at the same time as it struggles on the ground.
The big cat is seen bleeding heavily and clearly injured as the hunting dogs surround it and bark. Eventually, the big cat, with blood dripping from its mouth, stops moving.
The names of the three suspects behind the video and who allegedly killed the jaguar have been submitted to prosecutors leading the investigation, according to local media.
It is unclear whether they have been arrested yet. If found guilty, reports said that they could be sentenced to between two and four years behind bars.
The jaguar is considered the largest cat in the Americas and third largest in the world after tigers and lions.
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Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
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Well if the cat was a threat to the people in the area good riddance.
Clearly the dogs are the threat and not the Jaguar.
Cowardly, filthy, sick savages…….the punishment should fit the bloody crime. Put those men in a pit with a pack of large VERY hungry wolves.