Neme

My name is Neme. My story with Alturas Wildlife Sanctuary began on January 22nd, 2025, when officials found me alone on a roadside in Potrero Grande. I was thin, dehydrated, and far too young to eat solid food on my own. I had clearly been separated from my mother too early. They brought me to the sanctuary, where I received round-the-clock care just to get stable again.
Once I grew stronger, the team started my rehabilitation using protocols made specifically for orphaned wild cats. They made sure I never bonded with humans, I was raised with cameras watching me instead of people, fed in ways that kept me wary, and trained to hunt live prey so I could rely on myself. I learned to stay hidden, avoid danger, and behave like a wild ocelot should. Over the months, I became more independent, more confident, and more elusive.
After nearly ten months, I was finally ready. In November 2025, I was released into a private reserve full of forest and wildlife, the perfect place for an ocelot to make a new start. It has plenty of prey, little human activity, and all the space I need to establish my territory.
Before I left, the team fitted me with a Telonics GPS collar. For the next year, it will show where I travel, how I use the landscape, and how well I avoid humans and roads. This information will help conservationists understand how orphaned ocelots adjust after release, and it will guide future rescue and rehabilitation work for other cats like me.
So even though I’m out in the forest now, my story isn’t over. I’m living wild, exactly as I’m meant to, and at the same time helping the people who saved me learn how to give more rescued animals the same chance.