outdoors

Death gallops through Clayton
by Gonzalo Menéndez G.

It was six in the afternoon on Tuesday, February 25 when Luis Menéndez, lover of sports, nature and open spaces, ran along the side of the entrance to Clayton, across from the Embassy Club residential developments. He never imagined that he'd be a witness to a horrendous accident. An ocelot (Leopardo pardalis) suddenly emerged from the brush and quickly crossed the street. Taking care for neither Luis nor the ocelot, a car drove up at great speed. Given that there 's not much traffic driving at the posted 40 kilometers an hour on this narrow road, it's common to see unscrupulous drivers speeding carelessly along, despite the fact that there are children, pedestrians and animals about.

In front of the signs that give belated warning to slow down for the joggers the uninterested driver not only hit this beautiful and uncommon animal, but then drove away.

Before the helpless gaze of some, for the most part foreigners, who stopped at this macabre scene, it was suggested that this gravely hurt feline be taken to the nearest veterinarian, but the definitive phrase was pronounced: "it's dead."

The ocelot, or manigordo as this animal is commonly known here, is somewhat rare and solitary. It eats little mammals like ñeques, sloths and rats, and some birds. It's very shy and has nocturnal habits. It's part of our beautiful tropical fauna that slowly but surely we're losing every day.

The National Police came to this sad scene. Some of the foreigners said that they never imagined that in this neighborhood such a beautiful cat could live. It was suggested that the officer posted at the gate at Clayton's entrance take a few seconds to advise the incoming drivers to slow down, but the strong and final response was that "nobody pays attention --- it's just for show. So appears the institutional frustration about enforcing the rules in this sector.

It is known that the birth rate of these animals is very low. According to Ricardo Moreno, the Panamanian expert on cats, each couple has three cubs, of which one survives. This happens every two years. Research at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute's Barro Colorado Island laboratory and in Soberania National Park have given us valuable information about this cat of the Americas. In Cana, Darien, there was recorded the largest of these animals ever caught. It weighed nearly 40 pounds, a world record.

The afternoon ended for this particular specimen of our fauna, which not only would never attack a person, but actually fulfills a specific role in the area's ecological web. Everyone who was there was saddened, knowing that the police can't do anything with respect to the traffic regulations in this place, and that they could only appeal to the conscience of those who drive by there every day to avoid other deaths like this. Death gallops through Clayton, and it doesn't seem to matter to anyone.