In the spots light

Zoo hopes new star Pat the Cat plays vital role in saving jaguars

Pat's a "perp" with no remorse.

Breaking and entering. Theft. Worst of all - cattle rustling.

But now at age 11, Pat the juvenile delinquent jaguar lives a new life. This resident of the Milwaukee County Zoo has gone from being a hunted criminal in Belize to a "species founder" with growing international importance and his name in Harrison Ford's Rolodex. He has his own song. And his own cookie, too.

Pat's magnificent mug is becoming the face of his species. As part of the Jaguar Rehabilitation Program started at the Belize Zoo and partnering with the Milwaukee County Zoo, Pat will contribute his wild bloodline to staving off jaguar extinction as a key member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' worldwide Jaguar Species Survival Plan.

Of a mere 44 jaguars in North American zoos, only about nine are wild-born, creating an inadequate genetic pool that dangerously limits breeding. Pat is related to none of the zoo cats, and his rare genes will put the Milwaukee County Zoo's stamp on an entire species for the plan's 100-year duration.

Pat has already starred in a European exhibit, on YouTube and in artwork, and he has lent his photo to an international conservation group's annual report. He also will bring needed cash to the Zoological Society of Milwaukee by appearing as the society's 2009 Christmas ornament.

A cat-loving Mequon couple, John and Nancy Kennedy, put thousands of dollars behind the effort to bring Pat to Milwaukee and get his name out worldwide as a top cat in his species. "He's such a beauty. He represents the majesty of the last great cat of the Americas. And he will help ensure that generations of jaguars will survive," Nancy Kennedy says.

With a lifespan of about 20 years, Pat has plenty of time to secure his place in jaguar history. In his specially designed quarters at the Milwaukee County Zoo, with giant plastic balls and logs to scratch, 110-pound Pat doesn't look like a hardened offender. He moves with the fluid grace of a silk scarf in the breeze.

Poster boy
He seems secure in his growing celebrity, a prominence helped by the Kennedys. They are reluctant to talk to the press about their personal efforts in the Big Cat Cause, but, armed with stunning photos of Pat, they have shown his image to animal lovers around the world who can't get enough of him.

Visit Switzerland, and there's Pat. His poster-sized picture welcomes visitors to the "Jungle Trek" at the Papiliorama Tropical Gardens in Kerzers, Switzerland, where conservationists work to raise worldwide awareness about nature through exhibitions. In 2008, Papiliorama opened a section that re-creates the Shipstern Nature Reserve in Belize, the kind of jungle that Pat personifies. Pat posed for them.

"The jaguar is emblematic for Shipstern, and we decided to present these species on illuminated posters. One of them now is Pat. It's nice to find a picture of a jaguar with a story to tell," says Caspar Bijleveld van Lexmond, director of Papiliorama.

Pat has juice in Hollywood, too. In 2007, Harrison Ford, wife Calista Flockhart and her son helicoptered into the Belize Zoo and became captivated by Pat. "They spent quite a bit of time at his handsome side," says Sharon Matola, director of the Belize Zoo and subject of the bestselling book "The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw." "I set up fresh fruit and lime juice, and Pat sauntered over and laid down with us. He has a fan club and it's growing!"

Open the annual report for LightHawk, an international aviation company, and yep, there's another picture of Pat, majestically lounging on a branch. LightHawk flies conservation groups doing aerial surveys, including researchers working on saving jaguar habitat. Bev Gabe, publications manager for LightHawk, says Pat's image was chosen "because it's a beautiful image of a majestic creature, a gorgeous animal. And he represents the work we do flying for jaguar conservation."

Pat as a young cat
Pat's Milwaukee high life dates only to late 2008. His original base of operations was in northern Belize, but he was on a path that would have led him to a toe tag with his name on it.
Caught in a shrinking jungle habitat that abutted ranches full of tempting cattle, Pat chose what seemed like the quick road to the good life. For a jaguar, the largest cat in the Western Hemisphere, pickings were easy.

"He started killing livestock, and he was going to be shot. It wasn't his fault, it was his situation," says Bruce Beehler, deputy director of the Milwaukee County Zoo. Ranchers trapped Pat and he was well on his way to becoming a decoration on a barn wall.

But something about him made this jaguar special. Matola remembers Pat's reprieve.

Matola had created the Problem Jaguar Rehabilitation program in 2004, and yes, Pat qualified as a problem. The program, which partners with the Belize government, rewards farmers who bring captured jaguars to the Belize Zoo instead of killing them. "The government confiscated Pat and sent him to us at the zoo. We loved Pat the Cat from the start. It was easy to see that he would be a vital education jaguar in Milwaukee. He was never aggressive with the handlers. He liked humans," Matola says.

Inspiring a song
So Matola and other experts at the Belize Zoo began the reform of Pat the Cat. For two years, Matola hand-fed him through mesh fences, rubbed his cheek, talked softly to him. And she did something more. Matola wrote a song for Pat and sang to him while she played the guitar. Here is "Pat's Song."

Used to be the King of Doom
At a place called Honey Camp Lagoon
All the cattle
Were in a rattle
When I was on the loose!'
Cause I'm Pat the Cat, Pat the Cat!

After a while under Matola's gentle care, Pat began to feel at ease with humans. His temperament and genes are so special that the Zoological Society of Milwaukee became involved. The Belize Zoo began working with the Zoological Society to find Pat a home here. He would become part of what Beehler calls "a species survival plan. Ninety-five percent of the animals in the zoo come from other zoos. In an enclosed population you can't breed some of the animals and you occasionally need new blood," Beehler says. Born and bred in the jungle, Pat would be a "founder cat" contributing his genes to the health of other jaguars.

The path to Milwaukee
But first he needed to get to Milwaukee. Enter the Kennedys. John, a former vice president with Johnson Controls, and Nancy, a lawyer, so love wild cats that when they heard about Matola's jaguar survival program and Pat they took off for Belize for a close look. "Jaguars are mythical creatures, part of so many cultures, strikingly beautiful creatures. When they walk toward you they have such power," says John. Pat made a spectacular entrance. "He growled at me and walked away. He meant: I'm in control. But eventually he came back and rubbed his cheek on the fence next to me."

After meeting Pat, "we told the Milwaukee Zoological Society we would take responsibility for this cat and we went down to Belize," Nancy says. The Kennedys made more than a dozen trips from Milwaukee to Belize to see that Pat's transfer here in 2008 went well.

Pat had cinched his Milwaukee connection. Now he and his Milwaukee County Zoo handlers turn their thoughts to jaguar love with Stella, the zoo's coy female. If Pat and Stella don't hook up, Pat will travel to other zoos to search for other mates who will help him save his species. The Milwaukee County Zoo will continue to own him.

Says Nancy Kennedy: "Pat is a key player on an international stage. Look into his eyes - what moved the ancient Mayas moves us still."





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