A jaguar that was featured at an Olympic torch ceremony was shot dead by a soldier shortly after the animal escaped from its handlers, an army statement said.
The panicked soldier fired a single pistol shot after the animal, despite being tranquilized, approached the soldier, the Brazilian army has said.
“We made a mistake in permitting the Olympic torch, a symbol of peace and unity, to be exhibited alongside a chained wild animal. This image goes against our beliefs and our values,” the Rio Olympic committee said in a statement they released after the incident.
“We guarantee that there will be no more such incidents at Rio 2016.”
The shooting has caused uproar among animal rights groups, which questioned why the animal was involved in the Olympic event.
The short answer is that a smiling yellow jaguar known as Ginga is the mascot of the Brazilian Olympic team.
The jaguar is a threatened species that has already been wiped out in Uruguay and El Salvador, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The use of Juma, as the jaguar was known, at the event was illegal, according to Ipaam, the Amazonas state government environmental authority that oversees the use of wild animals.
“No request was made to authorize the participation of the jaguar “Juma” in the event of the Olympic torch,” Ipaam said in a statement.
Ipaam said it is investigating the incident.
And so an already controversial Olympics has an auspicious beginning…
