Playa del Carmen, Q.R. — Another jaguar has been found dead after being hit by highway traffic. This latest death was recorded in front of Rio Secreto Park in the municipality of Solidaridad.
The female cat was found Sunday night around 9:00 p.m. near the police filter by citizens who reported the dead animal to Emergency 911.
Emmanuel Hedding Medina of Protección Civil in Solidaridad, confirmed that a female jaguar was found dead Sunday night with extensive damage, having been hit twice in the slow lane of the highway.
“It was a jaguar hit last night. The environmental department reported it to us at night through 911 that we were to attend to a cat that was run over by Rio Secreto passing the second police filter at 600 meters,” he explained.
Profepa officers requested the body be kept on ice where it was taken to Xcaret who will be in charge of doing the corresponding studies.
Authorities have commented that they will proceed with an official autopsy to confirm its death and add it to the wildlife census, remarking that she is the third cat to be killed along Riviera Maya highways in the last several months.
Officials say the cats approach urban settlements because they do not have enough food in the jungle with the absence of animals such as deer and tapir, so they approach to hunt for food such as dogs and other domestically kept animals like birds.
