Las Pumas

I visited another refuge and rescue center a couple hours away from my home.  Mostly highway and only 320 meters of dirt road today. Yeah, but I sure can feel the effects the last trip had on my knee. I can barely bend it. Ouch, but anyway

This is the big cat refuge. The Cougars, Jaguars, Manigordo/ocelot, Jaguarundi, Margay , and Puma cats. boy, oh, boy is the jaguar huge. He’s definitely king of the jungle here. On site they also had a couple of spider monkeys and white faced capuchins. A couple of beautiful scarlet macaws, lots of parrots, and a lovely toucan. A three legged deer and a pig rounded out the lot. Oh, and bunnies. One loose howler monkey, too. I think that’s all.

It’s the work of a woman and her husband from Germany,  long since dead. Mrs. Hagnauer had a fondness for the big cats and saw a need to fill. This was a long time ago, over 50 years.  Her story is a lot like Diane Fossey with her gorillas. This non-profit, The Hagnauer Foundation still bears her name and is funded with the generous donations, entrance fees, and the gift shop. I think those cats eat a lot of meat. While I was there, they were all sleeping, bummer. Feeding time would’ve been fun to watch.

The king of the Costa Rican jungle, the jaguar, aka,”Curubanda”. He was huge. His space for roaming is over an acre all by itself.

Here’s some other cats.

Another pic I bought as I couldn’t see this guy.  I tried coaxing him out of his hollowed out log, he yawed and went back to sleep Small badger like, but cuter.

A very large and scary animal. There were two in this enclosure. The one pacing was hissing while the other slept in a tree.  I didn’t get a pic of these guys, it’s a photo I bought.

So cute, but deadly to a person. Smaller cat with beautiful markings.  He, too, slept in a tree and wouldn’t face the camera. Getting old.

I’ve never heard of these cats before, except the obvious.  This small refuge has five of the six native cats. They all have a story like so many animals at the many refuges around Costa Rica.  When the fines to own wildlife went up dramatically, there were a lot of varied animals given to sanctuaries. Many come in injured and are sent back to the wild. Unfortunately, many enter as small animals and it’s difficult to re-enter them into the wild.

It’s crazy how many refuge/rescue centers there in CR.  It doesn’t matter where you are in the country, there’s a refuge nearby. Some real good ones, some with best intentions, but not the best practices, and some bad ones, too.  But having visited so many, I see the best intentions of the staff to ensure the wildlife have the best chance of survival or a comfortable home for the rest of their lives.