Paca, Black Leopard

Paca remains to be one of our saddest cases. He was rescued along with two spotted leopards and a tiger in March of 2003. He was being confined in a small cage behind an abandoned house in Texas. His cage was in poor condition, and his feces hadn’t been cleaned in weeks. There were old animal carcasses in his enclosure and fire ants crawling all over. This was supposedly a rescue from his previous owner. His first owners were very cruel. They tortured him by cutting off his back toes to use in voodoo rituals. His back feet were left with two toes each. This makes it very hard and painful for him to walk or move around, especially at his age of 17 years.

When we first brought him to Forever Wild, he was very timid and stayed in his den box. Now, he enjoys laying in the sun and often “talks” to the volunteers that help care for him. He loves to roll around and play with his favorite toy - a bright orange construction cone.

We are currently working with a non-profit organization that helps with reconstructive surgeries for big cats that had bad declaws. We aren’t sure what they can do for him, considering there isn’t much tissue to work with. All we can do is try to make him as comfortable as possible.