Scientific Name: Panthera Onca
Common Name: Jaguar
Wild Status: Near Threatened
Date of Birth: 11th July 2017
Loves: Cardboard boxes
Maya was just five days old when she came to The Big Cat Sanctuary. Her mother was unable to feed and tend to her needs and within a few days of birth Maya had symptoms of severe dehydration and weakness.
As a result The Big Cat Sanctuary’s Giles Clark became her full time carer. Completely hand-reared, Maya has grown into an exceptionally intelligent, confident and affectionate character who’s getting bigger day by day. Her favourite food is venison and she loves to play hide and seek.
The star of the 2018 BBC documentary “Maya’s Story”, Maya has become an important symbol for animal conservationists everywhere.
Jaguars have the strongest bite of all the big cats, exerting a bite pressure of approximately 1500-2000 pounds per square inch
The Big Cat Sanctuary was founded in 2000 and is registered as a UK conservation charity. The Big Cat Sanctuary is currently home to around 50 cats ranging across 15 different species- the most diverse collection of cats in the UK.
The House Crowd are joining forces with The Big Cat Sanctuary to raise money for a new cat house for Maya, the hand-reared jaguar. We aim to raise £250,000 in total.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the costs:
£100,000 will be used build the enclosure
£50,000 will be used to support the University of Costa Rica’s Jaguar Protection programme
The remainder of the funds will be used for landscaping and planting trees within the enclosure. They will also be used to construct roads and pathways to the new enclosure. Existing roads around The Big Cat Sanctuary will also be refurbished.
£10 donor- A Video thank you from Giles and Maya
£50 donor- All of the above, plus: your name or company name on the a virtual tree of life displayed on The Big Cat Sanctuary website
£100 donor- All of the above, plus: a year’s subscription to The Big Cat Membership Programme
£500 donor- All of the above, plus: a paw print with your name/company name on the journey to Maya’s enclosure from our Front Gate to hers
£1,000 donor- All of the above, plus: a recycled metal leaf with your name engraved on it added to the real tree of life constructed from recycled enclosure metal and placed on the side of Maya’s enclosure.
£5,000 donor- All of the above, plus: a year’s membership to the Sanctuary’s Apex Club, with access to exclusive events and experiences, including the chance to meet Maya and Giles at the Sanctuary
£10,000 donor- All of the above, plus: a real tree planted along the pathway to Maya’s enclosure with your name/company name on a plaque and an invitation to the opening ceremony of the enclosure.
As little as £50 could pay for a vital camera trap that can protect Maya’s wild jaguar cousins in Costa Rica and help save them from extinction
An integral part of the Pacuare Lodge’s commitment to environmental protection and sustainable tourism is supporting a project to study jaguars in the Pacuare Protected Zone.
Recently Costa Rica Nature Adventures signed an agreement with Dr. Eduardo Carrilo, a professor in the Wildlife Management Program at Costa Rica’s Universidad Nacional, to study Jaguars in the forest along the Pacuare River. The lodge serves as a base for biologists working on the study.
According to Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, Regional Vice-President of Conservation International, the study site lies in an essential area for jaguar conservation within the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, since it is between the vast wilderness of the Talamanca Cordillera and the forests of Turrialba Volcano.
At most, it is estimated that as little as 15,000 jaguars still remain in the wild
“The opportunity to support jaguar research is fascinating because it’s such an extraordinary animal. Our hope is that this project will contribute to the development of conservation policies to protect these endangered felines.”
Giles Clark: Maya's carer, BBC wildlife presenter
