Cats and other mammals of  Central America are released at Hidden Valley Inn Belize

Hidden Valley Inn based in the Mountain Pine Ridge area of Belize releases a Margay on location in the private reserve.

Margay released at Hidden Valley Inn - Belize

In 2003 LiFeline, a centre for the rehabilitation of wild cats in Belize, released a confiscated margay back into the wild. This unprecedented event took place on the Hidden Valley Inn reserve.

Little is known about this small and beautiful arboreal cat, listed CITES Appendix 1. Found in undisturbed forest, it is nocturnal and extremely rare, sleeping usually 25 feet above ground in trees and always in dense cover.  It has a unique feature amongst cats as it can partially rotate its hind feet, running down trunks head first and hunts mainly in trees.

A large cage,complete with trees, was erected in a remote and densely vegetated area of the property. The cat was fitted with a radio collar and spent about 40 days acclimatizing to its new habitat. Tracks of another margay and a puma were noted visiting the cage several times. The margay was fed live prey to ensure it could hunt. 

On its release the cat was tracked for a week and appeared to be hunting succesfully and did not return to the cage loking for the food that was left there every day. In the second week it disapeared over the densely vetetated escarpment making it impossible to follow.