News from Elmwood Park Zoo

Sue Castle, our correspondent from the Elmwood Park Zoo, sends us the following report:

Zean, a 2 ½ year old Jaguar residing in the Elmwood Park Zoo since November, will be a new addition to the animals discussed in this blog. He is the son of Pat, of Pat the Great Cat fame. Many of you will recall that Pat was a jaguar in Sharon Matola’s and the Belize Zoo’s rehabilitation program. Through the efforts of John and Nancy Kennedy, he was moved to Milwaukee, where he still resides in their Zoo. He and his mate Stella have produced 2 litters of cubs, and Zean was one of a set of twins from the first litter.

This summer has been a very exciting time for EPZ. Our new resident jaguars, Inca and Zean, are in the middle of training and watching this training is fascinating! Inca has joined us from Seattle; she is a two year old from a set of female twins and became an EPZ resident last winter. In October of this year work will begin on a brand new jaguar enclosure designed by Disney employees. It will be state of the art and will contain enclosures to allow them to breed and raise cubs. Inca and especially Zean have very important genes which will make successful mating critical to the Species Survival Program. Since Zean’s father is a wild jaguar from Belize, his heritage makes him quite unique.

Our hope going forward is to establish an ongoing relationship between the Belize Zoo and the Elmwood Park Zoo. EPZ’s amazing vet, Dr. Adam Denish, will visit TBZ in the coming year, and future posts from EPZ will reflect information about his trip as well as videos on the training that Zean and Inca are undergoing.